Where We Belong
by Rhonda Night
Summary: Sequel to "Only Human." It has been two years since Sookie vanished without a trace. When she is found, tragedy follows. Will she and Eric be able to defeat the dark forces that surround them or is theirs destined to be a story of heartbreak?
1. Chapter 1

_This is a sequel to my first story "Only Human." I highly recommend you read that story before reading this one if you have not done so. If you have, welcome back! I hope you enjoy this story and I just want to remind you that I truly appreciate every single piece of feedback and review I get and it really helps me while writing. That being said, let's get going on Sookie and Eric's next chapter! Thanks everyone!- R_

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The house was small but comfortable, with ivy growing on one side and a shelf of flowers beneath the front window. The branches from a tree hung low and heavy before the cottage, not quite obstructing, but giving the appearance of hidden getaway. The glow from the windows stood in stark contrast to the enveloping ink of the night around the land. Dusk came early here at this time of year, and a gray stream of smoke wormed lazily out of the chimney. Cream curtains were secured back with ribbon, giving a direct, if unintentional, view into the private abode.

A petite blonde woman bustled around the kitchen, her mouth moving rhythmically in what could only be song, although no noise could be heard from the front yard. She looked young and healthy, her hair swinging loose around her shoulders, and she donned a red shirt tucked into khakis. She was rushing, it was easy to see, as she skipped in and out of view, doing a full spin at one point as she searched, and successfully found, some misplaced item. All the while her mouth moved in melody, serene and cheerful, despite the hurry, unaware of the shadowed figure watching her from afar, oblivious even as she bounded outside and to her car that someone was listening to her song and quietly, so very quietly, humming along.

* * *

She wasn't hard to follow but her stalker remained outside the tiny dinner for fear of being made. The restaurant had a rustic and purposefully 50s style to it, a tin trailer that rocked slightly as customers entered and exited and waitresses dashed from table to table.

The blonde woman wore a checkered apron and her hair now swung at the nape of her neck in a ponytail. The silent observer watched while a customer, a beefy man with a patchy beard, yelled at her. His bellows made his face turn red and the veins pop in his neck, and even from a distance it was clear his anger was inproportionate to whatever issue about which he was complaining. The woman stuttered and turned pink in the cheeks, but held up her hands in surrender, whisking the apparently toxic meal away from the man even as he continued to howl at her back.

It went on this way for a long while, and the shadowed figure was amazed both by the casual cruelty of humanity as well as their resilience as he watched the woman soothe one impatient customer after another.

After hours of this, the watcher allowed himself to be swallowed more fully by the shadows as the waitresses performed the last few obligatory chores and the lights switched off in the trailer. The ancient container groaned as the help hurried out, calling half-hearted goodbyes to each other.

The woman's car was parked a good distance away from the others and she paused when she was alone to shift her weight on her sore feet and tilt her closed eyes toward the sky. Snow had begun to flutter down some time ago, but in such casual intensity that it had only just begun to stick to the grass, leaving the world feeling quiet and beautiful without the realistic worries of commute problems that so often accompanied such weather.

The woman held out her hands and sighed contentedly, her breath swirling around her in a puff of white. The snow glittered on her hair and in her lashes making her appear at once as an angel and as though she were weeping.

Her guard was down and the man prepared himself to act, certain with no one around that this was the moment he had been waiting for, but as if hearing his thoughts, the woman straightened and walked hurriedly to her car, leaving behind the calm moment in the parking lot without a second glance.

* * *

The grocery store was next and the follower waited impatiently in the parking lot for her to emerge. Unwilling to risk exposure by entering the store, her twenty minute disappearance set him on edge. He wanted this done now.

She emerged with two bags, the weight of which dragged down her arms. Snow was still falling lightly, no closer to becoming a nuisance, but the time for romantic lingering was over and her walk back to the car was brisk.

* * *

As she stepped out of the vehicle in her driveway, the moment seemed at hand and he stepped forward to grab her. Just as he was upon her, however, the front door swung open and he retreated in a panic back to the shadows.

Annoyed at the interruption, he watched through narrowed eyes as a man emerged from the house. He folded the woman into his arms and she placed a kiss on his cheek. He took the bags from her and ushered her into the warm of the home, shutting the door behind the picture of the perfect couple.

The outsider shifted uncomfortably. This was unexpected. He had anticipated ease in getting her alone. The presence of this man was…unfortunate.

The opening of the door interrupted his thoughts and he willed himself closer to the darkness. The couple reemerged and the woman dug into her purse to hand the man some cash. Cash? Risking his position, the watcher craned closer to get a better look. The man vaulted down the steps without any further goodbye besides a chaste wave and drove away in a previously undetected Prius. The watcher sneered and turned back toward the house.

Not lovers then. Friends? But why was he in her house alone all night? Why the exchange of money?

The watcher straightened abruptly as the woman reappeared in the kitchen window. Not much had changed. She still wore her uniform, her hair still swung in a high ponytail. Now, however, she was not alone. Now, she carried the smiling form of a blond toddler.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for all the reviews guy! I appreciate all the feedback and you sticking with me! I know there are a lot of questions about what has been going on with Sookie and Eric and why certain things have happened, etc, but while many of your questions will be answered it may take a while for Sookie and Eric to get to those answers, so please try to be patient! Your reviews make me so happy, thanks! -R_

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Sookie closed the front door as gently as possible, satisfied by the soft click of the latch. She wore no jacket and the cold of the night nipped at her through her long sleeve shirt and sweatpants. The chill quickened her step toward the road as she carried the sagging trash bag to its destination. She dumped the load and took a moment to breathe in the fresh bite of the winter air. She had learned the icy smell of snow that lingered in the atmosphere, so different from the damp warmth of her home, and she loved the way it filled her down to her soul.

"Sookie."

She shrieked and whirled toward the clump of trees that had spoken. The shadows prevented her from seeing anything, but it didn't matter, she would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Eric."

He emerged slowly, stepping into the light until he was a few feet from her and the only part of him covered in shadow were his hooded eyes. The silence that stretched between them spoke volumes of the distance that now existed between the former lovers.

Sookie shifted and glanced toward the house before speaking. "What are you," she cleared her throat. "What are you doing here?"

Eric glowered at her. "What are you doing here?"

Sookie wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical, and she suddenly felt the irrepressible and unexplainable urge to laugh. Nerves, she realized, but still she gave herself a mental slap at her inappropriate affect.

"I live here," she said uncertainly.

"I have been looking for you for two years," his voice was soft, but it began to tremble with rage. "Do you know what that has been like? I thought you were dead when I could no longer feel our blood bond, when I had nothing to follow. A bond such as that cannot simply disappear!"

"I know. I found my fairy relatives and they did me a favor. They have special powers and they were able to break the bond so you couldn't follow me. They helped me find this place."

Eric's face darkened. "How could you do this? How could just leave everything? How could you just leave me?"

"I didn't want to, but I had to. It was easier for everyone this way."

Eric began to pace. "You have no idea the things I went through when I could not locate you, when none of your friends or family knew where you were! The bond was broken-"

"I know because I went through it too," she interrupted.

Eric froze and stared at her. "Then why did you leave?"

"If you thought I was dead why didn't you just give up?"

They were yelling at each other now, closer than they had been, both covering up deeper emotions with anger.

"Because I couldn't! Because I couldn't accept it! Because I love you!"

The confession hung between them.

"I loved you then and I love you still. I heard what you said at Fangtasia that night, I went after you the next night, and you were gone. I heard you! I heard you say you loved me."

"Then you must have heard me say goodbye."

"I didn't think," he paused, chest heaving with unnecessary breaths. "I didn't think you meant forever. I thought you were upset because of me, because I reverted back to my position at Fangtasia, to…to being a vampire. I thought perhaps you wanted to end our courtship."

"Then why didn't you come after me that night? Why did you wait?"

His eyes scanned their surroundings as if he were searching for some kind of answer. "Because."

"Because why?"

"Because I thought you were just upset and I had learned that it was best to give you time to calm before attempting a confrontation. Because I didn't want to pressure you to be with me if that was not your desire. Because… because I did not for a second think that you would abandon everyone and everything that you cared about, that you would abandon me."

"It wasn't about that," she said softly. "It wasn't your fault. I wanted to be with you. It wasn't about you or me. It was something I had to do."

"Don't," he held up a hand and wouldn't meet her gaze. "Don't do that. Don't try to take the high road after all this time, after all I did to locate you."

The snow had begun to fall again. "How did you find me?"

"I followed every lead I could. At first I searched for some kind of paper trail, but then I realized you must have changed your name."

"To Sandra Keane," she smiled but it only highlighted the grief on her face.

"I spent every free moment scouring the globe for you. I pushed every contact I have to the brink. I sent Pam out to the East while I searched the West." He ran a hand through his hair and Sookie noticed for the first time how tired he appeared, how worn. His skin was paler than before, the red outlines of his eyes and lips pronounced against the white. His beauty, she realized with a pang, was now tragic.

"I followed leads," he continued. "Whispers of a blonde woman who kept to herself in San Francisco or Seattle or France. I almost gave up. Pam kept insisting that the absence of the bond meant that you were killed, and for the first time," he chuckled bitterly. "For the first time I found myself beginning to believe her."

He looked such an odd mixture of old and young in that moment, Sookie thought. Weary and war-torn as his feet shuffled in the snow, but so innocently hurt and confused as his closed his eyes to the falling flakes on his cheeks.

"Then," his eyes remained shut as he spoke. "One last clue as someone mentioned a blonde woman in small town right outside a big city up North: a waitress with a southern accent. One who kept to herself and seemed mysterious. One who seemed to know what the customers wanted even before they asked.

"A long shot," he murmured. "A ridiculous lark. Pam demanded that I remain in Shreveport, that I give up such a futile chase for a ghost. And I promised her," his eyes opened and met hers. "I promised after this one last trip, I would give up, I would let you go."

They stared at each other. "And here I am," Sookie's breath formed a cloud between them.

"And here you are. I couldn't believe it when I saw you in that first instant. I thought I was dreaming. After all this time, and here you were, smiling, laughing. You look exactly the same."

Sookie blushed and self-consciously tucked some hair behind her ear. "Older."

"Beautiful." The word held no trace of flirtation and instead seemed rather morose.

"Well you look the same," she offered the meek joke, feeling uncertain about where the conversation was headed.

Eric's face was serious. "I am different. Such sorrow I have never felt. One changes under its weight."

Sookie blinked back tears. "I'm so, so sorry," she choked out. "I never meant to hurt you."

"But you did." Gone was the gentle spirit of the conversation, suddenly the air around them was once again charged with fury. "How dare you say you didn't mean to hurt me. How dare you cry! You do not deserve tears. I am allowed to weep for the betrayal and for the loss that was forced upon me. You do not get to mourn your own decision."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that!" He roared. "I don't want your apologies nor do I care for excuses. Tell me _why_. Tell me why after declarations of love and hours spent assuring me of devotion, would you willingly disappear from my life with a half-hearted farewell?"

"I had to," she whispered.

"Don't," he gritted out, clenching his fists and tensing his body so that every muscle visibly strained. For the first time since he had appeared, Sookie felt a twinge of fear. She began to back toward the house. "Don't offer me your intentionally profound vagueness. I deserve an explanation! Did you ever love me?"

Sookie faltered at the abruptness of the question. "What?"

"Did you ever love me?" His jaw was clenched and his eyes defiant, and suddenly Sookie was struck again by how childlike he was underneath his façade. She could see the fear dancing across his face as easily as if he were sobbing, although to an outsider it would remain invisible.

She was near the door now, but she made no further move to get closer. "Yes, Eric, I loved you very much."

"I would never have left you in such a way."

"I know. You're a good man."

A muscle in his cheek jumped. "I am not a man."

Her head tilted as she studied him. "You are to me."

"I was. I was a man with you. But now I am a monster again."

"You're not a monster."

"You don't know anything about it."

"I know you."

A short burst of laughter escaped him. "Oh, really?"

"Yes. And you're a good person."

Their eyes met again and she could no longer tell if the red around his blue gaze was exhaustion or tears. "Good enough for you to leave behind?"

"I'm sorry. If I could have been with you forever I would have. It was my decision, but it wasn't my choice. You deserved better."

His eyes were full of such heartsick despair that she wanted to cry out. "So did you."

Unable to withstand anymore, Sookie shifted to go into the house.

"This conversation isn't over," he called to her back. "I won't let you disappear without explanation again."

"I know. But for now I have to…" Her eyes darted to the house as if she could sense some unheard noise from within. "I can't right now." Her hand was on the doorknob.

"Tell me one thing." His voice seemed to echo in the space around them, and Sookie turned. "He's mine, isn't he? The baby. He's my son."

Sookie looked at him for a long moment. "He's ours."

"Our son. Sookie," Eric's eyes were now wide with wonder.

"Yeah, he is." Sookie stood there for a moment then walked through the door.

Eric watched her, motionless, and Sookie paused and turned back to him.

"Come in and meet him."


	3. Chapter 3

The walls were a pale green and the wooden rocking chair in the corner looked worn. The gentle thrum of a light on the dresser sent images of stars and moons spiraling across the ceiling and walls. They left the main light off and walked into the room side by side, the soft glow of the lamp skittering across their faces and making Sookie feel as if it were all a dream.

Eric's steps toward the crib were slow and deliberate and Sookie held her breath as he gazed down at the sleeping baby. His face was serious and shadowed and it remained stoic as he took in the baby's husky breaths and parted lips. The stood in silence for long moments, then Eric reached his hand into the crib. Sookie's heart fluttered at the idea of him smoothing the baby's blond hair or caressing his irresistibly chubby cheeks as she so often did, imagining the connection between father and son finally coming to fruition. She watched as he hand lingered over the child and an unnoticed tear streaked down her face as his index finger stroked the baby's open palm in reverence until little fingers unconsciously surrounded the digit in a sweet embrace.

"His name is Asher," she said in a voice she knew only Eric could hear. "It means happy. My gran used to tell me a story about Asher in the Bible, and how God promised him a life blessed with abundance."

Eric's eyes never strayed from the crib, from the infant's dark lashes on his cheeks. "You hoped the name would protect him and bring good luck in case you were not able to."

"Yes. And Keane means fighter because I knew one day he'd have to face some trials."

Asher sighed in his sleep and smacked his lips together contentedly. "He's beautiful."

"He looks like you," Sookie offered.

For the first time since they entered the house Eric's eyes met hers. "He looks like both of us."

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They walked into the kitchen and Sookie realized her hands were shaking. She could feel Eric's looming presence behind her, but her eyes were drawn to the window, which revealed the snow falling heavier outside.

"I know," she said, her voice cutting through the silence of the house. "I know you'll never forgive me. I would never expect you to. To be honest, I'll never forgive myself either; for forcing you and Asher to live without each other, for forcing myself to live without you."

Eric's eyes were almost black as he regarded her. "But," she continued. "Our lifestyle together was too dangerous for him. When I first thought I might be pregnant, I was so happy," she smiled wistfully at the memory. "So, so happy. I wanted to run and tell you right away. I was rushing around my house trying to find my keys so I could drive right over. Then I bumped my shoulder on the doorframe," her patronizing laugh sent her hair floating around her face and Eric watched with fascination as it settled back in place.

"A stupid, little bump, but it hurt, it really hurt. It sent this ache down my arm." She rubbed her chest sympathetically, as if she could still feel the sting. "And it made me remember that night at Fangtasia, how I hurt my shoulder, how I almost died. It was just a simple night, a good night, and then in the blink of an eye, I was impaled on a chunk of wood for no reason other than I'm a human and humans are so weak compared to vampires. I would have died if you hadn't been able to make everyone leave right away and give me so much blood. When I bumped my shoulder that day in my house I realized how vulnerable I was. I almost died. And I didn't know at the time, but I was pregnant with Asher and he could have died.

I decided to wait to tell you. Maybe it was a mistake. I got a pregnancy test and when it turned pink I didn't know what to think. I was so confused. But deep down I felt this thrill, like I knew our time together had produced something magical and meaningful, and I knew I had to do whatever I could to protect him. So I left. I didn't think it through because I knew it was only a matter of time before you'd be able to sense the pregnancy and I didn't tell you because I knew," she took in a quavering breath. "I knew if I was close to you again I would never be able to force myself to leave."

"You should have let me protect you both."

Her smile was so tender he closed his eyes at the sight of it, as if he could feel the warm caress on his skin. "You are the ultimate vampire, Eric and I could never have asked for a better bodyguard and I would never have trusted anyone more, but I distracted you. Pam told me and I saw it myself; when I was around you felt torn between what your vampire world demanded of you and what I wanted from you, what you wanted for yourself. I was hurt in a vampire brawl and then that same night you were so preoccupied that Bill was able to sneak up on you and hurt you. If it hadn't been Bill, if it was another one of your enemies, we both could have died that night."

"I'm sorry I wasn't enough, that I wasn't strong enough to shelter you," his voice was stiff. "I should have been more aware; I should have moved faster at the bar and I should have sensed Bill in the yard with us."

Sookie took a step toward him. "Eric, I'm not blaming you for anything here. It was me who distracted you all the time. We both led dangerous lives and it was a risk I was willing to take with myself, but I felt as though I didn't have the right with our child."

When his face continued to be troubled she placed a hand at his elbow. "No one can be everything for everyone, Eric. No one can be on guard all the time."

"I would have been for you," he growled fiercely.

Sookie nodded slowly. "You would have tried; I know you would have tried. I'm sure you would have done a good job, but what kind of pressure would that have been, how logical is it to think that you could have staved off all of our enemies? Because I left, we haven't needed protecting. Asher is living a normal life and so am I."

"Unhappily," Eric bit out. "You're miserable. You have such potential, such life in you and you settle for a low-paying employment where you're maltreated and bored. I saw you at your job."

"You were there too?"

"You didn't sense my void in the parking lot?"

Now it was Sookie's turn to look chagrined. "I've been a bit distracted lately."

"By your sadness."

She didn't try to deny it. "Asher is happy and safe and that's all that matters."

"But things are different now." They were standing close to each other, the sleeve of his leather jacket brushing against her arm, and she backed away and took a seat at the table.

"Yes, I suppose they are."

* * *

Eric remained standing but allowed his body to lean against the counter and take on a semblance of casualness. In the interlude, he looked around the room as if noticing it for the first time. It looked like a home.

"How did you manage all of this on your own?" He asked. "With only a job at the ridiculous diner to support you?"

"My fairy relatives helped me a lot," she admitted. "They're not the biggest fans of vampires and they have a serious investment in continuing our blood line I guess. Plus Sam really pitched in."

"Sam?" Eric gritted his teeth and Sookie's eyebrows rose in surprise. He had been so calm up until this point.

"Yes," she said tentatively. "He helped me find this house and a new name and he let me borrow some money."

"Sam?" Eric repeated. "How could you," he swiped a hand across his jaw. "Accept the help of that dirty shapeshifter? If it weren't for him we wouldn't be in this mess. It's his fault things failed! I gave my human life for him. We could still be together if he weren't such a fool; I could still be human!"

Sookie's voice was level and soothing when she spoke again. "I know how you must feel about him. I felt the same way at first too, but Eric, Sam is a good person and he didn't mean to cause you any trouble. I completely understand why you would still be mad at him, but please try to understand, I was desperate and he is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and he knows a lot about disappearing and starting a new life."

"I just, I can't believe…of all people," Eric was practically sputtering in his dismay.

"Eric, listen: don't misplace your anger here. If you should be mad at anyone, it's me. I am sorry. From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry that I took Asher away from you. It doesn't matter if you are human or not, you are a good person and you would be a good father. I shouldn't have left. From the day I got here I wondered about my decision, I tortured myself over it, debating what I should do. But I was just so, so afraid that something would happen to our baby while he's so young and vulnerable. And I knew if I went back, I would never have the chance to get him away from that life again. I panicked and I've been panicking ever since. There was so much danger and death in our lives and my fairy relatives promised to watch over us; it just all happened so fast.

But, no excuses; you deserved to know your son and Asher deserved to know his father. I'm sorry. I'm only human; I just wanted to protect our son. I knew it was wrong, but it also felt right. Even now I can't decide what would have been best. I can never give you or Asher back that time together, but I wouldn't want to take away how safe and happy he was during his first year of life. I couldn't find what was right for all of us, so I decided that the two of us suffering would be worth it if Asher was safe."

She took a breath, her palms flat on the table and sorrow swelling in her throat. She wasn't sure if she was making any sense, but all she knew was that she felt so guilty and having Eric here in her kitchen after so long, after so many days and nights of longing, was making her head swim. But she also couldn't escape the fact that Asher was safe in the next room over and she honestly didn't know if that would be the case if she had stayed in Bon Temps.

Eric was silent as she looked at him. The clock to her right ticked loudly in the hush.

Finally, Eric said, "I'm surprised that Sam never mentioned anything about helping you when I questioned him."

"You questioned him?"

"He never told you?"

Sookie bit her lip. "We don't talk much and when we do it's never about my old life. I let all that die when I left."

"And became Sandra," the name sounded odd in Eric's mouth.

"The protector of man," Sookie smiled weakly.

"The protector of man," Eric echoed and the sound of Asher sighing in his sleep spread through the house like a wave, bridging the distance between his parents as they sat so close together, yet so far apart. "My son."


	4. Chapter 4

_Just a warning: This chapter contains adult language so sorry if that offends anyone. Also, I've been getting a lot of plot questions, and I just want to remind everyone that this is a sequel to my other Trueblood story "Only Human." It's rated M and this one may also end up being M. Sorry about that. And I just want to continue to thank you for the feedback. Hopefully the story is about to get rolling, so hold on! -R _

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The tea was warm and comforting when she drank it; the steaming cup helping to steady her hands as she folded her legs under her. The couch seemed much smaller with Eric on it beside her and she tucked some hair behind her ear, feeling self-conscious.

"Sorry I don't have any Trueblood to offer you," she murmured. "I haven't had much need for it. Although a few months ago there was a sale at the local store on it, the cheapest I've ever seen it- a steal really! I almost bought some then. I had it in my cart and everything. But then I thought there was no point and it would just make me sad and bring up questions from others…" she trailed off and Eric smirked at her. His gaze roamed her face and settled on her throat for the briefest of seconds, causing her heart to stutter and her skin to tingle as if he were touching her with more than just his eyes.

"So anyway," she stammered breathlessly. "Here's the next album. This one's more interesting since he's older in it. During most of the first year all the pictures kind of looked the same because he just laid there; like taking the same picture in different outfits. But you can really start to see his personality in this one."

Eric's lips quirked up in an almost imperceptible smile as he looked at the photos of Asher.

"His first birthday party," Sookie explained smoothing the plastic flap of a page down. The next few sheets revealed faces, old and young, laughing in party hats. The bright green of the grass and the smiles on faces as they squinted in the gleaming sunshine seemed more of a virtual video than simple photography.

"It's nice that he's born in the spring because having the party outside was really fun." Eric's stared hard at the photos, trying to memorize every detail as Sookie spoke. He focused on one of Asher, his eyes sparkling blue, frosting on his nose, his hands reaching out to the photographer, and his mouth spread wide, revealing two bottom teeth in a laugh caught forever on film. Eric's eyes closed briefly as he imagined he could almost hear it ringing through the house.

"Ducks."

"Huh?" Sookie had been watching the emotions flitter across Eric's strained face and she was shocked by his sudden words.

Eric's eyebrow rose. "Ducks?" He pointed to a picture of Asher and some other children chasing after some downy yellow ducklings.

"Oh yeah. We have ducks." Sookie looked sheepish. "My neighbors have them and for Asher's birthday they gave him three ducklings. I wasn't expecting it, they didn't ask or anything, and I was going to give them back, but he just loves them so much. So, now we're a family with ducks."

Eric smiled at her, his first real smile since he had arrived, and she grinned back. He flipped the page and his hands stilled. Sookie craned her neck to see what he was looking at.

"Oh yeah, Halloween a few months back." Eric's fingers traced the outline of Asher's smile, his horned hat and fur toga. "Is it too much? Sorry I just thought it was cute and all, being that his dad, you know, was an actual Viking."

"No," Eric's voice suddenly seemed too loud and he snapped the album shut and rubbed his face. "It's perfect," he said softer. "It's funny and thoughtful. I just….I just can't believe I missed all this." He leapt up from the couch and began pacing in front of her. "I mean he's my son, dammit! And I don't know anything about him. I don't know his favorite food or stuffed animal. I don't know if he has allergies. I don't know him! And he doesn't know me. I missed all these important, momentous events in his life."

The silence stretched in the house, broken only by the sound of Eric's feet shuffling back and forth.

"His first word was "up," his second "mama," Eric stilled at her voice and turned to look at her, but her gaze was unfocused, as if the memories were right before her eyes.

"He hates to be still, to be missing out on exploring. "Mama, up! Mama up!" the first thing I would hear in the morning from his crib, the first thing I still hear. Bananas are like dessert to him but he hates mashed potatoes. He always spits them out even though babies are supposed to love them. Sneezing makes him giggle and he's constantly pulling his socks off so he can walk around barefoot.

"He loves the snow. His cheeks get so pink when we play in it and his eyes look so blue I can't even believe it. Every night when I put him to bed this winter he would ask "more snow? More snow?" because he couldn't get enough. He loves the beach. I was worried this past summer because he was only about fourteen months and a lot of my friends' kids were scared of the water, but not him. He's never afraid, Eric. He laughs and laughs. When I held him in the water, the waves crashing on us, I could feel his heart beating so fast. His chest against my shoulder as if his heart is mine. And it is. It is." She looked up to where Eric stood, speechless. "He's perfect. And he's so much like you it takes my breath away. I'm sorry you've missed so much, but you'll learn with time and he'll know you now."

Eric sat back down beside her, their thighs brushing slightly, and cleared his throat. "Back home everything is pretty much the same. Sam's bar is doing extremely well; I check on it frequently. Sam is not seeing anyone romantically, but Lafayette continues to date that man, although something strange seems to be going on with them it's nothing dangerous yet. They knocked Mily's old diner down, you remember that place out by the river? And they put up a car wash instead. It was all everyone in Bon Temps could talk about for months. They would all go get their cars washed even though they'd be filthy again as they drove away on the dirt roads." Sookie's eyes were closed as she drank in the information. "In Shreveport things are a bit faster paced. Although I have been frequently absent, patronage at Fangtasia has steadily increased. This is due largely to the fact that many high profile vampires have stopped in to visit and sign autographs, but mostly to see Pam I think. Your brother will be happy to know you're safe. He has been worse than I have! Slinking around town with his tail between his legs. Still immature, still unreliable, you'll be happy to know. Not that much has changed."

Sookie attempted to nonchalantly brush a tear from her cheek. "Thanks for the update. But I don't think…I'm not sure Jason's going to find out about me."

"What do you mean? Will you not come back?"

"I know it's hard to understand, Eric, but Asher and I have a really good thing going here. I'm not sure I'm ready to throw all that away, the safety of the life we have, to go back to Bon Temps."

"I cannot go back knowing what I know now."

Sookie hesitated. "I know that. I wouldn't expect you to and you have a right to get to know our son and you can see him whenever you want. But please just think about the risks. This is all very sudden, something neither of us was expecting. I think it's best if we don't rush into anything. I would really," she took a deep breath. "Really appreciate if you would promise to lay low and be careful not to expose us to that life just yet and not to let anyone else know. I don't want to risk Asher."

Eric studied her as he considered her request. Finally, he nodded briskly. "I promise I will not let anything happen to either of you. The life I lead is dangerous, it's true, but I will prove to you that you will both be safe. Until then, I will 'lay low' for your added safety." The words sounded strange coming from his lips and she smiled.

He returned the gesture and glanced toward the window. "Sunrise is coming."

They both rose. "You can spend the night in our basement closet if you want. I know it's a long trip back and you probably wouldn't make it before daybreak. It's not comfortable or anything, but there are no windows and it will be safe for you."

"That would be nice, thank you."

Sookie led him to the basement closet and awkwardly handed him a pillow and blanket. "I don't know if there's anything else you need…sorry it's not very nice." Her hands fluttered nervously at her sides.

"This will do fine." She watched while he crouched to spread the blanket out and then blushed when he looked up at her.

"Okay well," she turned to leave with the tips of her ears burning, feeling shy although she wasn't sure why.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Eric's voice was so hopeful it made her falter on the stairs. She turned back to smile at him.

"I'll be here when you wake up."

She tried to keep her steps light as she walked around upstairs, uncertain how quickly Eric would fall asleep. It felt funny knowing Eric was once again in her home, in her life. She felt overwhelmed by all that had happened in one night. She stood over Asher for a long time, smoothing his hair while he slept.

"Your daddy's here," she whispered although she knew he wouldn't stir. "Your daddy's here with us." She kissed him and breathed in his silky sweetness. "Did you hear that? Everything's going to change."

* * *

Thousands of miles away a fifteen year old boy took a swig of vodka. "Did you hear me? I said everything's going to change! Hey. Hey!"

"Yeah, yeah." His companion looked up from his project to shoot the first boy a look. "I heard you. I just don't believe your bullshit."

"Bullshit?" Alcohol sloshed out of the bottle and onto the cement as the teenager swung his arms wide. "I ain't talking bullshit. I'm talking…I'm talking fucking bull-TRUTH."

"Oh yeah?" His friend wiped his nose and shook his spray can harder. "We're almost out of this, dude."

The first boy groaned and slid to the ground, sipping on the vodka sullenly. "You're not even fucking listening, man. You don't even give a shit."

Rolling his eyes, the friend added more green to his design and took a moment to ponder it. "No, Christ I give a shit okay? Don't start crying or anything, God. I'm just saying nothing is going to be different."

"Wrong! Wrong." The boy surreptitiously swiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I'm going to go home and tell my old man to go fuck himself and I'm gonna live my own goddamn life! You just wait you fucking doubter."

The friend finally turned from his work, his cheek smudged with spray paint. "You're fucking wasted. Look around, man. We live in a Goddamn dead-end town! No one from here ever does anything. This place is falling apart around us! I mean, look at this building!" They both took a moment to gaze at the cracked floors and walls around them. Broken windows let in a breeze and graffiti covered almost every inch of wall space. "This abandoned building? It was built a few fucking years ago and it already looks like this. Shit everywhere." He kicked at an empty beer bottle and they both watched it smash. "Anytime anyone tries to fix anything in this town it goes to hell. Everyone born here ends up as nothing. We don't do anything special. Just get over it."

The teen hiccupped and looked at his friend through half-open eyes. "I don't know, man. Our tagging is fucking the shit. You gotta give me that."

The friend laughed and went back to his work. "Yeah, you're right about that. We're the best taggers at least. We got that going for us."

The boy stood up on shaky legs and hopped over a large crack in the cement floor. He tilted the bottle and swallowed the liquid thickly. "I don't know what you're talking about anyway, man. This building's not so bad. All it needs is a little T-L-fucking-C. I bet my mom could fix it up." He ignored his friend's snort and continued walking around. "I mean it's big. It's got a bunch of floors. Things could go in here. Like, like stores and things." His voice became softer as he rounded a corner. "Like if people would only give us a fucking chance we'd surprise the shit out of them, you know? Like in a good way. Hey, come check this out! Holy shit!"

His friend sighed and continued adding his finishing touches to the graffiti. Suddenly he heard a strangled cry and the crash of glass. He lowered his arm slowly.

"Hey did you fall?" He called out. "Hey dumbass! Did you break the vodka bottle? I'm gonna kill you if you did, man. That was the last of it!" When he got no response he began to slowly walk in the direction of the noise. He shivered as the sudden penetrating quiet of the night overwhelmed him. Looking around the abandoned building, he realized they were completely alone.

"Danny?" He yelled cautiously. His feet crunched on some glass and he looked down and almost gagged at the overwhelming smell of alcohol. The atmosphere in this part of the building was ominous and he swallowed hard. There was a wide fissure in the cement a few feet over and he began to shuffle closer.

"Danny?" He whispered. "Danny?" The area was dark and silent and his scream was muffled as he was dragged to the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry this took so long! I've been super busy and I'm trying to make the chapters longer while managing to update regularly. Thanks for the feedback, it's keeping me going! Please let me know what you think. -R_

* * *

The noise was excruciating. So loud and shrill Sookie imagined she could feel her ears beginning to bleed. A throbbing in her head was building to an ache, with a distinct center of pulsation behind her left eye. Still, when she turned to face the one responsible for her pain, she smiled broadly.

"Having fun?"

Asher looked up at her, big blue eyes peaking from behind thick lashes, and grinned.

"Bubbles," he chanted. "Bubbles. Bubbles." He went back to pounding on the pans spread around him with his wooden spoon.

"Bubbles," Sookie echoed, dipping her hands back into the sudsy water and beginning to scrub a plate. Asher's rhythm on the drums was decidedly to have no rhythm, but Sookie found herself humming along as she washed. When she began to sing a made-up song about bubbles, Asher squealed in glee and began smacking the pans so hard Sookie was amazed the spoon didn't snap.

Done with all the dishes in the sink, she began dismantling his drum set, quickly washing off any dirt that may have accumulated from being on the floor. As she worked on the last pan and spoon, Asher tapped the floor good-naturedly with his palms. Sookie turned to him when she was finally finished.

"What are you doing?" Asher giggled as she put her hands on her hips. "Are you a rock star?" She crawled onto the floor with him and began tickling him so that his shrieks of laughter filled her ears, helping to dull the ringing left behind from his drumming. She twisted him so that his hands clutched at her shirt and her head fell into that sweet crook in his neck that smelled of powder and dampness and boy. Raising his t-shirt, she pressed her lips against the silky skin of his stomach and exhaled, releasing a rude noise and causing Asher to cackle and kick his stockinged heels against the floor. She watched his legs thumping against the ground in exhilaration and she closed her eyes, picturing Eric directly below them, feeling the vibrations, even in his sleep, from their son's happiness.

* * *

"Quack! Quack!" Sookie laughed as Asher squawked and flailed his arms after the ducks waddling around his feet. They didn't exactly want to be around the toddler, but his chubby fingers were diligently tossing the pieces of bread his mother handed him at a close proximity and the animals' love for food overwhelmed their apprehension of the boy.

Sookie did not really enjoy being a duck owner; in fact she regularly fanaticized about bringing the birds back to her neighbor. They had been cute as ducklings and amusing for about six months, but now she sometimes felt exasperated with their constant noise and necessary cleanup. She kept them, however, because Asher adored them. It thrilled him to seem them shuffling around and to chase them so that their little feet scurried in the grass and their wings flapped.

"Hey neighbor!"

Sookie turned to face the voice and smiled warmly. "Oh hey, Tom."

The man was big and burley, wearing overalls and a stained tan shirt. His curly brown hair, sprinkled with silver, poked out in sweaty strands from beneath a baseball cap.

"No jacket?" Sookie asked, practically shivering in sympathy at the sight of the thin sleeves of Tom's shirt.

Tom gave her an incredulous look. "I'm working, Sandra! Besides, this cold isn't at all bad for this time of year in these parts; you're just thin-blooded from that Southern living."

Tom worked construction, did odd jobs, and grew much of the food his family ate. The baskets of tomatoes he would bring Sookie during their season were the best she could ever remember eating. He was also the originator of the ducks.

"Hey there, Ash," Sookie watched as her neighbor knelt down next to her son, amazed as his big calloused fingers gently shook the little boy's tender hand. "You taking good care of your pets?"

Asher grinned and threw out some crumbs enthusiastically to the waiting animals.

"Anyway, Sandra," the man stood up and walked over to her. "I came over to get that shop-vac I let you borrow a few months back when your basement flooded, remember?"

Sookie nodded. "Oh sure, Tom! I completely forgot I still had that!"

"Great I'll just go down to the basement and grab it."

Sookie's heart stopped. "No!" Tom paused and glanced back at her in confusion. "It's just…my basement's a mess and I don't even know where it is. Can I just get it to you later?"

Tom scratched his head. "Well, the thing is, Sandra, I need it for this job I'm going to. You know I don't care about any mess; besides, your house is always way cleaner than ours!"

"I can grab it for you."

"Sandra that thing's heavy and clumsy as hell. I can barely drag it around. It's fine, I'll just go grab it, don't worry."

"Wait, wait for me!" Sookie said to his retreating back, scooping up Asher and hurrying after Tom.

Their shoes clunked noisily down the basement steps. Sookie's mouth felt dry. She couldn't remember where the vacuum was, but if it was in the closet with Eric, if Tom saw him there, not only was it possible that Eric could get hurt, but the safety of her home and this life she had created for herself and Asher would be compromised.

Sookie blinked against the glare of the florescent lights as she scanned the room for the appliance. Setting Asher on the ground, she watched briefly as he tottled off on half-shaky legs. The closet door was shut ominously a few feet away and she wondered if Eric was awake behind its flimsy veil of protection. Was he nervous? Listening? Poised to attack?

"Found it!"

Sookie jumped and turned to look at Tom, who was busy extracting the cumbersome vacuum from behind some dusty pool toys.

"Oh, great," breathing a sigh of relief, she rushed over to help him detangle the mess. "Sorry, I told you it was a disaster. I keep meaning to make it down here but with Asher it's kind of hard to…" she glanced over her shoulder while tugging on a garden hose.

"Asher!" Her voice was sharp and the baby froze with his hands still flat against the closet door. He stopped banging and looked at her, his lower lip trembling slightly at his mother's scolding.

"What's he got some toys in there or something?" Tom grunted.

"Or something," she muttered, leaving her neighbor to figure out the clutter as she swept up Asher. He was too short to reach the handle, but his banging on the door their vampire slept behind made her uneasy.

Asher was still looking at her with sorrowful eyes and she brushed a stalk of blond hair off his forehead. "Sorry," she whispered, rocking him back and forth. "Sorry we have so many secrets." He blinked at her with such solemn intensity that she could swear it was Eric meeting her gaze.

"Cherish these moments," Tom panted as he began dragging the vacuum up the stairs. "Pretty soon, he'll be gone and you'll be staring at your empty hands wondering what happened to your sweet baby boy."

* * *

She had spent so long waiting for Eric to wake up that she was taken by surprise when he finally did. She was sitting on the floor with Asher, watching him laugh while he knocked over the blocks she stacked, when he looked past her and grinned toothily.

"Hi," he said, clamping chubby fingers together in some semblance of a wave.

"Hi," the vampire's voice was stiff and Sookie turned to face him.

"Sorry, I lost track of the time." She took in the chaos of toys scattered around them on the floor. "We can go into the kitchen or…" She trailed off as Eric strode over and folded his long legs beneath him to sit on the carpet.

Asher studied him seriously and then held out a block with a red "D" on it. Eric took it, their fingers brushing, and then tenderly placed it atop the tower of toys. They promptly all collapsed with the added weight and Asher shrieked with unabashed joy.

"Asher," Eric said experimentally, and the boy looked at him expectantly and then handed him another block.

Sookie stood and brushed off her jeans. "I'm going to go make myself some tea and I got you some Trueblood from the store, so I'll heat you one." Eric's eyes were wide and Sookie smiled reassuringly at him before leaving to give father and son some time alone.

She put the Trueblood in the microwave and watched it spin in lazy circles. She felt dazed and foggy, as if she were moving in slow motion. She had just managed to convince herself that she and Eric were done, had just managed to stop crying every night, and now here he was, back in her life as if he had never left, playing with their son on the floor like something straight out of a Hallmark card.

Suddenly, wails ripped through the air and she dropped her tea bag and ran into the living room. The scene that greeted her was enough to stop her heart. Asher was jumping up and down with his arms outstretched and giggles pouring past his lips. "Up!" he shouted. "Up, up!" Eric's long frame towered over the boy, and when he reached down and swung him over his head, Asher's woops of laughter practically shook the walls. Sookie watched them for a few moments until Asher caught sight of her and called "Mommy!"

Eric turned to face her with the slightest upturn of his lips. Sookie would barely have been able to recognize the delight on the vampire's face were it not for the brilliant shinning of his eyes.

"You having fun with your daddy?" She asked.

Eric placed Asher back on the floor and crouched before him, swiping at sweaty strands of the baby's hair. "Daddy," Eric said looking his son straight in the eye. "Daddy," he repeated when Asher looked dumbfounded.

Sookie took a step forward. "Asher, say 'Daddy.'"

Asher looked back and forth between the two adults and then smiled. "Up!" He said proudly.

Eric's face remained completely still, but Sookie's heart cracked. "He'll get it," she promised. "Just give it some time." Eric remained silent, but he swooped Asher high into the air once again, holding the boy over his head so that he gazed down at his father. Sookie sat on the couch and watched them, unable to withhold her laughter at Asher's joyful hiccups.

* * *

Eric took a swig of Trueblood and turned his eyes to Sookie. "He's outgoing."

She grinned. "You wouldn't believe. When we went to the store today, he said hi to every single person we passed. All the ladies were coming over to pinch his cheeks. He's very charming; wonder who he gets that from." Eric's lips twitched again and Sookie giddily yearned to say something that would make him smile fully. "He talks all the time even though half of it is gibberish."

"He is sturdy as well." They both watched while Asher crashed two matchbox cars together. "He was not afraid of being so high in the air and he enjoyed wrestling with me. I am glad of this." Sookie nodded silently, imagining Eric as a Viking baby, being trained to hunt and fight from infancy. "I believe," Eric continued. "That he also has your kind heart."

Sookie stared at him. "How can you tell?"

"The way he rested so fully against me. The way his fingers wrapped around mine. It radiates from his eyes, just as it does from yours."

"He has your eyes, Eric."

"My color but your love."

"You loved once too," she shook her head. "His eyes? Everything about them belongs to you, Eric. The color, the tenderness. When I look at him I feel like I'm looking directly at you."

"How I was as a human," Eric clarified and Sookie hesitated.

"Yes," she said finally and Eric pondered this.

"When I look at him," he continued softly. "I can see myself; in the way he turns his head or picks himself up from a tumble. But I see so much of you as well, and that is what I like best."

"And what I like best are the parts of you in him."

His face was serious. "Perhaps he has gotten the best of both of us, then. And we have created a being who is to be cherished."

Sookie thought back to their time together, the way their bodies had found such perfect rhythm she had lost track of where she ended and Eric began, of how she left her body in moments of pure bliss and felt as though she could look down upon their union in awe, and of how he always held her so tightly against him, fingers stroking her as if she were a work of art while his heart beat faithfully beneath her cheek. She thought also of Asher's birth, how she had been alone and scared at the hospital and cried out for Eric as she felt the rush between her legs. How she had held the baby's trembling, pink form against her chest so he would be comforted by her own heart, and how, when he heard it, his eyes opened in wonder and she found herself looking into Eric's gaze.

"Yes," she said. "I think you're right."

They sat in silence on the couch, watching Asher play on the floor in front of them. Their hands were so close she could feel the chill of his skin. She felt the urge to extend her fingers that few extra inches and entwine their hands, to warm him against her. But the distance was still there, evident in the two inches between the palms, and there too, she knew in invisible ways as well.

"What is this?" Eric was looking at the TV and Sookie followed his line of vision to the characters softly talking on screen.

"It's a Disney movie."

"It's ridiculous."

"It's good for him." When Eric's eyebrows rose, she smiled. "They make love seem simple and easy, when it never is in real life. I want him to believe in that for a while."

"In what?"

"That things can work out; people can find each other and know it's right, know from a single kiss that they are meant to be, that they have found their soul's other half. And that obstacles will come but they will triumph. That love is enough."

She could feel Eric's eyes on her but she continued looking at the cartoon couple singing and twirling together on the screen. "You don't believe that anymore?"

Sookie swallowed thickly. "I believe that two people can love each other more than anything in the world, that they can finally uncover that spark that's more than just a metaphor for love, and for a moment they can dream of heaven."

"And then?"

"And then the credits roll, but life doesn't stop, and if only they could have frozen at that happily ever after, then everything would be good and right, but the glass slipper breaks, the apple gets eaten, and the love that they had? The life-force that once sustained them? It can't withstand the dragons and they have to either be engulfed in the flames or shiver with just embers."

She was crying, she suddenly realized, and Eric was looking at her with longing, but he did not bridge the gap.

"I should go," he murmured. "I'll be back, but it takes me half the night to get home and if I want any chance I can't wait."

Sookie nodded and surreptitiously wiped her cheeks. She trained her eyes on their hands and bit her lip to keep herself from begging him to stay. He stood and she followed his lead and trailed behind him to the door. His gaze was uncertain, perhaps the most unsettled she had ever seen him, and she looked up at him tearfully.

"I'll be back," he repeated and she nodded vigorously again.

"I know."

"A few days after two years will not seem long."

She sniffled but said nothing. Eric wavered. "You won't run away again?"

"I promise."

"I can get some affairs in order and stay longer next time," he sounded as though he were trying to reassure himself more than her.

"Right," she said. "You can come as often as you want."

His hand was on the doorknob.

"Goodbye, Sookie."

"Goodbye, Eric."

"Daddy!"

Eric froze and turned back toward the living room. He met her eyes and let go of the door. He smiled.


	6. Chapter 6

Eric was at a loss for words. His eyes spoke volumes of the horror he was feeling and the hands by his sides clenched into fists.

"This is," he began. "This…I just…"

"Oh for goodness sake, Eric," Sookie exclaimed, shoving the Wal-Mart bag into his hands. "Just put the clothes on and stop being such a baby."

Eric took another peak at the jeans and plaid shirt and scowled.

"The blue in the shirt will bring out your eyes," she coaxed.

"When I asked you to get me some clothes, this isn't quite what I was expecting."

"I'm sorry; I forgot how pretentious your tastes are."

"And while you were at the store I drank the last Trueblood." If his voice descended any further into a falsetto whine, he'd sound exactly like Asher.

"Here you go," she shoved the fresh six-pack of blood at the vampire. "I'm sorry I was unprepared for you to stay so long."

"How could I leave after he called me daddy? It was as if he were asking me to stay."

Sookie smiled. "I'm glad you stayed, Eric. I am. And if you weren't so infamous in the supernatural world, you could go out to the store yourself. But, since it seems that you have an enemy in every port in the world, you'll have to quit being so picky and wear the clothes I got you until yours are clean."

Eric shrugged off his shirt and reached for the plaid, button-up. The muscles in his chest flexed and stretched, and Sookie's heart skittered. Eric's fingers stilled on a button and he looked at her, but she fixated her gaze to the floor and took quick steps toward the door.

"I'm going to check on Asher," she mumbled. Eric's eyes followed her every movement.

* * *

"I put my clothes in the washer."

Sookie looked up at Eric's words and closed the book she had been reading to Asher. "Great," she said. "Although I think you still look great in the clothes I got you. You've always been more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of man."

Eric looked down critically at himself. The jeans fit length-wise, but they hung loose and slightly distended around his waist, showing off a brief glimpse of the black boxer briefs she had reluctantly bought him. "Indeed," his voice was dry. "Although I generally enjoy the comforts of appropriate sizes."

She shrugged. "You're freakishly tall. Most clothes I found for your height seemed to assume you'd weigh about four hundred pounds. The designers don't account for guys who are shaped more like Gumby." She hid a grin in Asher's hair at the look Eric shot her. "What?" She protested. "You know if Burger King had been around before you were turned those pants would probably be too tight."

"It's a good thing I saw you gawking at me earlier or else I might be offended."

Sookie dropped the toy car she had been zooming up Asher's arm. "I was _not_ gawking."

"I was afraid I was going to have to resuscitate you, which would be difficult seeing as how I don't exactly breathe." His eyes were shinning. "But I'd be willing to give it a try."

She flipped her middle finger up at him from behind Asher's head and his eyes widened in mock dismay. He crouched in front of the toddler.

"It's a good thing one of your parents will be able to teach you manners, älskling, or else there'd be no hope for you."

Sookie chuckled and Asher dutifully followed his mother's lead. Their teasing was still somewhat rusty and nowhere near the explicit content that had once spewed from Eric's lips, but Sookie was glad they had been able to reach this comfortable ground so quickly. She knew Eric was as uncertain as she as to where they stood, but it was clear they still enjoyed each other's company. In the long days she had spent separated from Eric, she had built him up in her mind to an almost god-like quality: rippling abs, penetrating eyes, ferocious love-making. But, she had forgotten how much he made her laugh and she hadn't realized how absent such frivolous giggles had been in her life until he had returned to her.

Suddenly, Eric's head quirked to the side as if he were listening to a whisper. Sookie's eyed him warily.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I just think Asher needs his diaper changed." He scooped the boy up and stood.

"I just changed him about fifteen minutes ago…"

"I'll check to make sure," he offered, walking toward Asher's room. Sookie rose and began following them, but a ringing of the doorbell stopped her. She moved to open the door.

"I made a call," Eric's voice rang out behind her and when she turned to face him, he was wearing the most sheepish expression she had ever seen on him.

"A call?"

Eric nodded slightly, shifting Asher in his arms and ignoring while the boy played with his father's hair. "Yesterday. After I decided I was going to stay a few days."

Sookie was staring at him, not quite comprehending what he was trying to tell her, equal parts distracted by the tender embarrassment on his face and the resemblance between him and their son.

"Okay," she said slowly and opened the door.

Sookie found herself face to face with a powder-pink polyester cropped jacket with three large buttons on the left shoulder. Her eyes trailed down to the matching knee-length skirt and chunky matte-white heels, then back up to the small hat perched, slightly askew, on top of perfectly coiffed hair. Wide eyes stared back at her from behind a short mesh veil attached to the hat and gloved fingers rose to brush the covering aside.

"Sookie," the voice was warm and happy and Sookie glanced back at Eric's guilty face one last time.

"Pam," she said and sighed. "Come on in."

* * *

Pam's heels clicked as she twirled around, trying to decide where to place her purse. Finally, she dropped the appendage on the floor with a thump and focused her gaze on Eric. She brought her covered hands together in a muffled clap.

"This is him?" Her voice was so high and energetic it bordered on a squeal and Sookie didn't quite know how to react to this version of the sarcastic vampire she had once come to know and like.

Pam peeled off her gloves and ran a manicured finger down Asher's soft arm. "Hello there," she cooed. "I'm your Auntie Pam." She turned her attention to Sookie for the first time since entering the home. "I suppose technically we're siblings, but Aunt seems more suitable doesn't it?" Without waiting for a response, she turned back to the baby. "Hello, Asher," she fussed.

Asher blinked at the woman in front of him and then removed the teething ring he had been gnawing on from his mouth and held it out to her. A long string of spit connected the item and his lips, and dribbled down his chin.

"Charming," Pam declared. "I usually abhor children, except for a snack," she smirked at Eric briefly. "But this young man has something." She took a step back and regarded the way Eric held Asher comfortably in one arm. She dabbed at her eye, leaving behind a red smear that made Sookie grimace.

"It's a Swedish vacuum of charm," she sniffled without a hint of irony. "Oh!" Her hand flew to her mouth and then she whirled around, shuffled to her purse, yanked out a camera, and fervently began snapping pictures.

Eric's eyes darted over to Sookie's. "Pam," he said, but she ignored him and continued squinting into the camera. "Pam," he tried again as she stepped forward and ruffled his hair to adjust it to her approval. "Pamela."

"What?" She froze and slowly lowered her arm. "Oh." She turned to face Sookie fully. "Hello, Sookie." Her voice had reclaimed its emotionless clip. "I'm thrilled to see you're not murdered and laying dead somewhere like I believed and instead simply ran away with my maker's offspring."

Sookie shook her head in a slight daze and offered the vampire a small wave. "Hey."

Eric shifted the child in his arms. "Now he really does need a diaper change," he said crinkling his nose.

"I can do it," Pam offered immediately.

Sookie started. "No, no. That's okay."

"It's fine, Sookie," Pam's eyes were back on Asher. "It's not like I'm going to eat him. Unless I eat these chubby little toes!" She lifted Asher's leg and smacked her lips around his bare feet, causing the baby to shriek in amusement. Eric handed him over and pointed her in the direction of the room. Together, he and Sookie watched vampire and baby walk away.

"Does she even know how to change a diaper?" Sookie marveled.

"She'll be fine."

"Yeah," Sookie seemed to crash back to reality. "Yeah, except what is she doing here, Eric?"

"I told you, I called her yesterday."

"You called…You called her?" Sookie was practically sputtering as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the kitchen. "Eric, why would you do that?"

"She's running things for me at Fangtasia in my absence. I had to tell her I would be gone longer than expected. Then, I told her why."

"You couldn't have lied?"

"No," Eric set his mouth in a thin line. "She always knows when I'm lying. And regardless, she is my only progeny, Sookie. I share things with her; important things, like locating my missing lover and secret child."

Sookie ran a hand through her hair. "Right, but you promised me you wouldn't tell anyone about Asher so that he could stay safe."

"Pam is hardly 'anyone,'" he said stiffly. "And I trust her. You know she is reliable and loyal."

"Yeah, but, Eric, I wanted to protect Asher from a supernatural life and now…now he's not even two and he's already hanging around vampires!"

"Yes, well one of those vampires is his father and the other is…"

"His aunt?" Sookie supplied.

"Yes."

Sookie leaned against a counter, beginning to breathe hard. "But won't you being gone for so long and then Pam leaving raise questions? What if someone followed her? The more people that know about us the bigger the risk-"

"Sookie," Eric stepped close to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Relax, please. You know I would never endanger you or our son. Pam is, well," he faltered. "Pam is family to me. I had to tell her."

"I didn't tell my family."

"Perhaps you made more sacrifices than you needed to. Listen," he bent so that they were face to face. "You need not fear. I will protect the both of you and Pam will help me."

Sookie wrung her hands. "I wish you had discussed this with me first."

"I apologize, but it's done. Pam knows and she is here. Look how she already fawns over Asher! Do you think she would let anything happen to the boy? Do you think I would?" Sookie shook her head mutely. "I would sacrifice my life for either of you." Her eyes met his. "Only Pam and I know. No one else. Asher is safe. I'm here and I will be with you. I promise I will protect you."

"I know, but that's a lot of pressure to put on you seeing as how there are so many enemies…"

"Sookie, please," his face was inches from hers, his eyes pleading and sincere. "Trust me. Give me the chance you never gave me before to prove I can be in your lives. I'm not asking you to pick everything up and move back home right away. All I'm asking for is a little trust. Baby steps?" He smiled at her and she finally smiled back.

"No one else will find out, right?"

"No one."

* * *

Pam scurried into the kitchen totting Asher like a football.

"Look what I got him," she said, her voice still carrying more energy and excitement than Sookie had ever heard in all of her sentences put together. She dangled Asher in front of them to reveal a black onesie with the words "I need a bottle….of O Negative" written in red scrawl above the logo for Fangtasia and a set of white fangs with a pacifier.

Sookie couldn't help but laugh. "You're a great aunt, Pam."

Pam handed the baby off to his mother and smoothed her skirt. "Yes, well, I hate to shirk my duties, but I'm afraid there is some urgent business in Shreveport to which Eric and I must attend."

"Urgent?" Sookie repeated and Pam sighed.

"Not urgent in the sense of life and death. More like business associates who refuse to deal with anyone but the man. Hundreds of years as vampires some of them have, and would you still believe they're sexist?"

"Yes, well you do tend to get overly emotional," Eric said with a smirk.

Pam rolled her eyes. "Indeed. But we should leave soon, Eric. You really need to settle these matters."

Sookie glanced at the clock in surprise. "Gosh! I didn't realize it had gotten so late. I better give Asher a bath and tuck him off to bed."

"Okay," Eric looked deep in thought. "I will help put Asher to bed and then we can leave, Pam." He turned to Sookie. "I will be gone for a day or two, but then I will return."

"Sure," Sookie said easily. Although she felt the urge to pack up some things for Asher and go with the vampires, something continued to hold her back from returning home: a lump of dread deep in the pit of her stomach as if her body instinctively knew of some danger. Asher jabbered in her arms and Sookie smoothed his blond hair. "We'll be here."

* * *

Pam made a phone call while Sookie and Eric bathed the baby. Sookie didn't really need the help, but Eric seemed to enjoy the feel of the warm water and holding Asher's slippery arms as the toddler splashed in the bubbles.

"He's so happy all the time," Eric commented and Sookie smiled.

"It's great, isn't it?"

"So innocent and pure. I still can't believe we made him."

"I know, but somehow he's ours." Her fingers dipped into the cloudy water to locate the cloth and she accidently hooked Eric's fingers. Embarrassed, she let go, but Eric held on for an extra moment, taking in his son's mother, seeing in her the arch of his son's mouth and the stubbornness in his chin.

"We got lucky," he said softly.

* * *

After the bath, Eric wrapped a towel around the boy and carried his damp, lethargic body to the couch. He dressed the drowsy baby in the stripped pajamas Sookie handed him and placed him on her lap so she could brush his thick hair. Sookie and Eric's knees were touching as she smoothed the blond tendrils and Eric leaned close to inhale the scent of baby shampoo. A warming sensation swept through the vampire's body as he looked at the two of them. As Asher's heavy eyelids began to droop, Sookie caught Eric's eye and smiled. He smiled back, feeling almost dizzy with the sensations in his chest.

A flash broke up the moment and the two adults looked over to see Pam crouching with her camera a few feet away.

"You'll thank me later," she drawled. Eric sighed and brushed Asher's sleeping forehead, leaning over to whisper in his ear. Pam tucked the camera into her purse and then picked up the slumbering child, cradling his head gently. "I'll put him in the crib."

Sookie walked with Eric to the door.

"It feels like we just did this," she murmured. "Only last time you changed your mind."

Eric regarded her seriously. "I wish I could do the same now, but I have responsibilities in Shreveport, and if we don't want anyone to become suspicious, I must fulfill them."

"I know," she reassured him.

"The entire time my thoughts will be here. I will return as fast as possible." He took her hand, and although they had touched in the past few days, this simple gesture felt heated and twisted Sookie's stomach in a way that she had not felt in years.

She expected him to pull away from the spark, to retreat to the safe distance they had established in their new time together, but to her surprise he did not let go. They looked at each other in silence, and if Sookie did not know her limitations, she would have sworn they were reading each other's minds.

"I'll be back," his voice was soft and low. "This is where I belong."

She wasn't sure if he meant with Asher or with both of them, but she didn't ask. Pam reentered but made no comment about their hand holding.

"I hope to come visit again soon?" The request sounded a bit stiff, but Sookie nodded easily.

"You're his only aunt."

Pam smiled slightly at this and patted Sookie's shoulder on her way out the door. Eric was still looking down at Sookie wordlessly, as if he were trying to memorize her features. He leaned in and kissed her cheek tenderly, his other hand grazing her hip. "I missed you," he whispered almost imperceptibly in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

He pulled back with a look in his eyes that was foreign yet familiar, as if from a dream she once had. "I'll see you soon."

Sookie swallowed. "We'll be waiting for you."

When the door shut behind him, she went to Asher's room and tucked him in. Her hand lingered on his solid form, scarcely believing he was real, while her other hand brushed against the cheek that was still tingling from Eric's kiss. She switched on the nightlight and headed to her own bed, wondering at the fact that with so many questions and potential dangers, she was beginning to feel whole again.


	7. Chapter 7

_I can't tell you how much each and every one of your reviews means to me! Thanks so much for the feedback. I'm really starting to hit my stride with this story, I think. _

_I just wanted to take this time to warn everyone that the rating of the story is changing. Sorry if it offends anyone. Hope you enjoy! -R _

* * *

The sun had just barely dipped below the horizon when the knock on Sookie's door sounded. She had picked up Asher from the babysitter's on her way home from work, and the car keys were still in her hand. A second knock rang out, sounding louder and more impatient than the first. She opened the door for Eric and grinned. His face held that practiced look of frozen indifference, but his eyes glowed; he had been gone for one night and two days.

"Hello."

"Hello," she echoed.

He stepped in the house and she could feel the scorch of his eyes as he looked at her. She suddenly became very aware of the messy tendrils of hair escaping her ponytail, the tawny stain of grease on her shirt, and the lingering stench of fried food and sweat-scents that probably overwhelmed Eric's superior sense of smell.

"You look beautiful," he said and she snorted. "Truly," he added, and Sookie was horrified to feel tears prick the backs of her eyes.

"Thanks," she began walking toward the living room and he followed close behind. "Asher's in here."

Asher grinned at the sight of his father and Eric folded his long legs beneath him to sit on the floor. Sookie relaxed on the couch as she watched them, feeling her body finally begin to relax.

It had been a long day at work; she had served one rude customer after another and then, during the lunchtime rush, she had accidently dropped a tray full of food when she heard a man thinking about what he would do to her if he could get her out back. Sometimes, Sookie allowed herself to daydream about other, more fulfilling occupations she could one day attain. She liked to imagine herself at a job with regular scheduled hours and health benefits, one that stimulated her brain and made her feel as though she had a purpose in life besides bringing rude people their food. Single moms have limited options, however, especially single moms on the run. God, she was tired. She ran a hand through her hair, grimacing at the tangled, greasy ends.

"Are you alright?"

Sookie looked at Eric and nodded slowly. "Just sorely in need of a shower."

Eric tickled Asher's stomach and then pulled the baby closer as he squealed with laughter. "Go take one; we'll be fine here."

"Are you sure?" She hesitated. "I can wait until he goes to bed."

He waved her off. "Go. You'll feel better once you're clean. Take your time. In fact, take a bath."

"A bath?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do you know how long it's been since I've taken a bath?"

Asher was crawling up Eric's shoulders now, his hands grasping at any leverage they could find: Eric's hair, his nose, his mouth.

"You used to love baths and I used to love how your skin felt so soft and smelt so good after one."

She ignored the last part of his sentence. "I do like baths, it's just hard with only Asher and me. Usually by the time I get him to sleep, I'm basically passed out on my feet."

"It's decided then. Go, take a bath. You'll enjoy it and we could use some male bonding time."

She stood and stretched. "When I come out, you better not have killed a bear or something together."

The smile that flittered across his face made him look younger. "I was thinking we'd start small, a raccoon or something first."

Sookie leaned down to ruffle Asher's hair, her hand brushing against Eric's shoulder as she straightened.

"Thanks," she said softly.

Eric smirked up at her. "You still have the lavender bubble bath?"

* * *

Every muscle in Sookie's body was screaming with joy. The steam rising from the water caressed her face and curled her damp hair. She ran a loofa down her arm, watching the soap bubbles spread across her skin, imagining the scent ingraining in her pores. Lavender. She tried to tell herself that she had chosen this bubble bath simply because she liked it, but as she imagined the last time she had bathed with it, in her old house with a very human Eric, she groaned.

She couldn't deny that it affected her to be around him again. For a brief time they had lived together as a couple, laughing and making love and doing all the banal tasks that everyday people did. It had been wonderful and she had loved it. She had loved him. And she had felt his son growing within her, shifting and hugging her from inside, and she had lived with the boy for almost two years, falling in love with him and the way he moved and giggled, the way his eyelashes brushed his cheeks in slumber. She had tried to convince herself that she could give up one for the other, but she had never stopped loving Eric, she could admit to herself now. Seeing him again was proof of this.

She knew she couldn't expect the same from him, however. Although he had been kind and understanding since finding them, she suspected this was mostly for Asher's benefit. After all, she had run off with no explanation, leaving him searching for her for two years only to discover that he had a son.

She sighed and lifted her hand from the water, observing the skin of her fingertips beginning to pucker in saturation. She hadn't expected him to continue looking for so long, although if she were honest with herself, she had hoped that one day she would see Eric Northman again. She used to think that once their blood tie was gone, the intensity of her feelings for the vampire would fade. To her bittersweet surprise, the dreams of him had continued and now with his return she felt a physical ache to touch him.

She inhaled deeply and shut her eyes. Lavender. In exasperation with herself, she slunk down and dipped her head beneath the water, feeling her hair float around her face like seaweed. She opened her eyes wide and looked in fascination at the distorted world around her. Under the water, everything looked magical, but she knew, perhaps better than anyone, how dangerous magic could be.

* * *

When Asher was fifteen months old, he almost died. They were at a barbeque thrown by one of Sookie's coworkers and it was one of those perfect summer days where the sun is warm and bright on your skin, but Mother Nature shows the kindness to provide a gentle breeze so the heat doesn't have a chance to suffocate. There seemed to be about a million children running around, all various ages and in descending levels of undress, their stomachs streaked with dirt and their noses pink from burn.

Asher had a baseball cap on and red shorts with a white T-shirt; Sookie could recall this vividly for some reason. She kept him by her side for the first half hour they were there, diligently slathering sunscreen on every inch of exposed tender skin.

"You should let him run around with the other kids," her friend had suggested, motioning toward a grassy area where a boy and girl about Asher's age were toddling around.

"Yeah, I just don't know. The pool and everything…." Sookie hedged.

Her friend smiled at her; a mother of two herself, she understood what it was to be a new mom, especially with your first child. "Come with me."

She showed Sookie the fenced off section of yard that held the inground pool. The fence was approximately five feet tall and she jangled the sealed padlock on the gate loudly.

"We scheduled pool times with supervision today at noon and then two so we don't have to worry about the kids getting into trouble. There's no way they're breaking through this lock." Sookie experimentally reached out and tugged on the padlock; it remained stubbornly sealed. "You have to start letting go eventually, girl, and what better place than a safe environment full of friends and watchful eyes?"

Sookie eventually relented, sensing Asher's desire to play in the dirt and grass. She kept a watchful eye on him and was pleased, if a little chagrined, to see how independent and confident her son already was. He ambled around the little area, chasing butterflies and toppling over as if he had never been happier.

When another child fell and scrapped his knee, resulting in a slight amount of blood and an overload of tears, her back was turned for mere minutes. It was simple the way the seemingly random and unimportant events intricately combined to create the circumstance. A child's ball accidently soared over the fence and landed near the ladder of the pool. He knew where the key was and ran inside to get it. His friends were calling for him, urging him to go faster so the game could continue, when he shut the gate behind him, missing the latch and ignoring the lock all together. Asher's steps were small and shaky, but they carried him across the yard.

Minutes. Her back was turned for minutes. Six at the most. And when she turned back, Asher had vanished. She called for him, once, twice, but she knew. She knew almost immediately in her gut. She was sprinting before anyone else became aware there was a problem. When they finally realized and turned, she was flying through the air, throwing herself into the water, swallowing mouthfuls as she reached for his tiny body.

He was still breathing. At the point of drowning where he only coughed and sobbed when she pulled him out. He didn't need mouth to mouth and an ambulance wasn't even called. He was fine. But it had only taken minutes for it to get this far and Sookie knew that a few minutes more and her life would never have been the same. As she held him that day, kissing the top of his head over and over, whispering apologies to him, his skin was cold against her shoulder, cold like death, cold like life.

The accident didn't seem to greatly affect Asher; he still loved the water and would swim in the ocean or pools any chance he got. But Sookie knew; she carried the feel of his icy skin around with her, she knew that minutes was all it took for your life to be ripped away.

* * *

When she emerged in a cloud of steam, she clutched her bathrobe around her tightly and followed the sound of Asher's laughter. She found them in the kitchen, Asher running as quickly as possible on his little legs, looking behind him with his mouth open and a wail of pure, unadulterated joy pouring forth. Eric was on his hands and knees, chasing him, and, as Sookie watched, he caught the boy in one massive hand and rose to his full height, swinging Asher from side to side. Asher's arms stretched out, his fingers clutching at the air and his blue eyes open wide.

"You're flying, Asher!" Eric said in a voice Sookie had never heard from the vampire. "You're flying." His eyes closed and he inhaled sharply. Slowly, he set the toddler on the floor and when his eyes opened, they blazed into hers.

Sookie smiled shyly, feeling suddenly, unexpectedly, feminine for the first time in years.

A sudden clang as the doorbell rang caused Eric to whirl toward the door, crouched in a defensive position with fangs bared. He eyed the portal suspiciously as Sookie walked over to it. She peaked out and turned back to him.

"It's just," she motioned him backward. "It's someone from work."

She opened the door halfway and stuck her head out.

"Hey there."

"Hey, Sandra." The woman smiled brightly at her. "You forgot your phone at work and since tomorrow's your day off, I figured you might need it." She handed Sookie the phone and craned her neck to look inside. Sookie shifted so that her body shielded more of the house. "Is Asher in there? I haven't seen the little cutie in a while."

"He's sleeping, sorry," Sookie said quickly.

The woman glanced at her watch. "Already? Dang Sookie you must have magic powers! I could never get my babies to sleep before at least nine or ten."

Sookie smiled weakly. "Yeah. Hey thanks for bringing me my phone; that was nice of you."

With her coworker gone, the three of them stood in the kitchen in silence, forming a mini-circle. Eric's fangs were still drawn. It had been a while since Sookie had seen a vampire up close, and she startled at how sharp they were. Watching Eric crawl around with their son, she had almost forgotten how dangerous he could be. He was looking at her, his eyes dark and hooded, and she wondered what he was thinking. From his spot on the floor, Asher chortled and his parents looked at him in surprise. He rocked back and forth with a grin on his face and pointed a chubby finger at Eric's teeth. Eric snapped the fangs back up and Asher's face scrunched in disappointment. When Eric looked at her uncertainly, Sookie could only shrug; it seemed Asher was just an enthralled with his father as she was.

* * *

About an hour later, Eric carried Asher to his room and placed him carefully in his crib. The boy's body was limp with gleeful exhaustion and Sookie smiled as Eric tucked a stuffed rabbit in as well.

"You're so good with him," she whispered. When he didn't respond, she turned so she could glimpse his face. It was cloudy with anger. "Eric? Eric what's wrong?"

Without a word he spun and left the room. She followed him, half closing the door and taking one last look at their peaceful baby.

"Eric, if you're angry with me I understand…"

"Don't," he growled. "Don't tell me you understand. You can't understand what I'm feeling because I sure as hell don't."

"Eric-"

He moved so quickly she didn't even feel as she hurtled across the room with him until her back was against a wall and his arms were on either side of her head, pinning her. "You can imagine, yes? Me wandering around Louisiana with my tail between my legs, shirking my duties. It's funny, isn't it?" Sookie shook her head mutely and he leaned close so that they were nose to nose. "Yes it is," his voice shook with rage. "It's hilarious that one little human could bring a thousand year old vampire sheriff to his knees. Dammit, Sookie," he slammed his hand against the wall and she jumped. "I have killed for much less than what you've done to me."

"I'm sorry," she croaked out.

He continued as if he had not heard her, his eyes fuzzy and unfocused. "Never have I showed such weakness. I am ashamed and infuriated."

"I know…"

"No," he met her eyes and she could see the turbulence of emotions that he had been holding back for days. "I'm not angry at you."

Sookie blinked. "What?"

"I've spent two years searching for you, longing for you, dreaming of you, and now that I have you here in front of me I want so badly to be furious with you, to yell at you and to storm off, but all I find myself able to do is look at you. It settles something inside me. I understand why you did what you did. I can even respect it while I loathe it. But I just wish, I wish, even briefly, that I could hate you. It's so much easier than what I really feel."

"Eric-"

He hit the wall by her head again, so that it cracked and a drop of blood seeped from his hand. "I understand it logically, Sookie, I do. But how could you do it? How could you take my son away from me? How could you break the blood tie? Was it that bad being connected to me? Did you yearn that much to have me out of your life?" He dropped his head, seemingly drained. "I don't understand these emotions; they enrage me. I am no longer human, I should not experience this. ..Sookie, why can't I hate you for leaving me?"

Sookie stood in stunned silence for a moment, her back against the wall and his arms still surrounding her head. Eric was silent, looking at the floor so that she could not see his face.

Slowly, very slowly, she grasped his forearm in both her hands and tugged it away from the wall. His eyes rose, crystal clear in shock, to watch as she licked the drop of blood on his palm, following the trail back so that she sucked on his finger, twirling her tongue around the digit, pulling more blood from the wound.

"Sookie," his voice was hoarse.

She released his finger and reached up, pulling his face to hers, kissing him on both cheeks, as she had in a dream so long ago.

"I love you," she whispered, wondering how fast the blood tie would take effect, if he could sense the truth in her words, if he could feel the sentiment pouring forth from her. "I'm sorry. I love you."

His eyes were closed as she rested her cheek against his forehead, stroking his hair, and murmuring in his ear. Slowly, he lifted his head and looked at her with a familiar gaze that caused her heart to squeeze.

In the next instant, his mouth was on hers, hot and demanding, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth, insistent and probing; his hands were everywhere, stroking and clutching at her. It was all she could do to keep up. When she tried to reach out and slow his movements, he growled low in his chest and pinned both her arms above her head with one of his. Sookie cried out and dipped her head back, letting him take control. As she gasped for breath, he sucked on her neck, nipping but not biting, and his free hand ripped at her bathrobe until she stood open and vulnerable before him.

"Eric," she gasped.

His hand gripped her hip tightly pulling her flush against him. "Say it again," he hissed into her ear.

"Eric."

"No," he pushed her back into the wall, his fingers digging into her flesh. "Tell me you love me."

"Eric," she was breathless with the delicious mix of pleasure and pain he was causing her. "I love you."

His lips crashed back onto hers, their teeth mashing. Eric's hand grasped her breast and his thumb swiped roughly over the nipple.

"Oh God," she cried out, bucking against him, trying to free her hands, needing desperately to touch him. Still, Eric refused to relent. He tugged his own shirt off effortlessly and then dropped his pants. All the while Sookie remained pinned to the wall, watching him with jealous eyes. "Let me touch you," she begged and Eric pressed his naked body against hers, allowing her to feel the marble of his skin, but not releasing the grip on her wrists.

He sucked on her neck, letting her feel the scrape of his fangs but holding back from puncturing. She could feel him, hot and heavy against her thigh and she arched her back to rub against him. He yanked one of her legs up and around his waist and positioned himself at her entrance.

"Again," he snarled.

"I love you!"

As the final word left her lips, he thrust savagely into her, uniting them once more. She whimpered as he began an immediate pace of quick, punishing plunges, but the words that tumbled from her lips were all encouraging.

"Yes, please God, oh right there." She could feel his fingers bruising her wrists as he held her with one hand while the other grasped her hip for leverage.

"Oh, Eric," she moaned. "I've missed you." He was grunting against her, his thrusts becoming more violent. Sookie's back thumped against the wall as she attempted to match his efforts. She cried out as her peak approached. Their eyes met and held, fierce and determined. "I love you."

He roared and bit into her neck while he pumped madly inside her. Waves of euphoric pleasure washed over her. When she recovered, she realized he was leaning against her, the weight of his body keeping her pressed to the wall, and his head was tucked against her neck.

"Eric," she whispered and kissed his temple. His head rose and he looked at her, his eyes searching her face. His hand released its cruel grip on her wrists and her hands immediately stroked the sides of his face. "I love you," she hummed.

He closed the distance between them and kissed her, softly this time, gently, and a tear slipped down her cheek. He was still buried within her, and he began moving again, slowly. She arched against him and he wrapped his arms around her back, cradling her and shifting them so that her back rested against the plush of the carpet and he hovered over her. He looked down at her and brushed her hair away from her face, his hand lingering in her hair as he kissed her again, sucking on her bottom lip until she mewled.

Their lovemaking was different this time, patient and soft, but somehow it felt more intense as their eyes locked and they moved together. He tempered kisses along every exposed inch of her skin he could reach and her hands explored the contours of his muscles.

She came before him, crying out his name, and he watched in wonder as she came undone. She ran a hand over his face and then behind his neck, and when she smiled at him, he lost himself in her, crying out and pulling her tightly against him as she held him tenderly.

He pulled back and placed one last kiss on her lips. "I love you too," he said and smiled.

* * *

Later, as they lay in her bed, Eric's hands stroked her as if he could not believe she was in his arms again. Sookie snuggled closer to his chest in contentment.

"I'm so glad you found us; everything is better now." She could feel Eric's hesitancy and she leaned back to look at his face. "What is it?"

"It's just…I wish I hadn't," he sighed in frustration at his own inability to find the right words. "I feel badly about showing my fangs in front of Asher. You've done such a good job of sheltering him from that world and now he's seen that his father is a monster." He wouldn't meet Sookie's gaze. "I do not wish to frighten him…or you."

"No, no, Eric," she propped herself up on her elbows and turned his face to look at her. "You could never scare us." She smiled affectionately at him. "You're his father and we love you." She ran her fingers over his fangs, still exposed from their latest efforts, and when a pinprick of blood dripped from her finger, she watched while he lapped it up.

"You see?" she whispered. "We're a family."


	8. Chapter 8

_Thanks again for all the reviews, you guys are the best! I just want to add that I kind of pick and choose what details to take from Trueblood/Sookie Stackhouse books. So in this case, I'm working off the idea that Eric did not have children before he was turned. Keep any questions/feedback you have coming! I read everyone of them and they make my day! -R_

* * *

"You're leaving again?"

Eric looked up from where he was bent over his desk, shoving papers into a bag, and met Pam's eyes.

"Yes, I can do this paperwork after Sookie and Asher have gone to sleep, before the sun rises."

"You only got back last night," her voice was flat.

"Yes, I know that Pam, but it is easier this way. It takes me half the night to get to them."

"You exhaust yourself by flying that far this often." She dropped into a chair, looking like a sullen child, and began toying with a Rubik's cube on his desk.

"Yes," he conceded. "It does wear on me, but it is a sacrifice I must make."

"And certainly the fairy blood you're ingesting helps."

He grinned at her briefly before digging through another stack of documents. "How is it possible that we have accrued this many files?"

"It's the same as always," she twirled a yellow block to the opposite side. "You're just not doing the work anymore."

Eric sighed and halted his hurried movements. He shifted to stand in front of her and crossed his arms. "Something to say Pamela? Are you feeling neglected, my child?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "What I feel is annoyed by this whole ridiculous arrangement. First you were sulky and weepy for two years-"

Eric held up a finger. "I did not weep."

"You were always running off on one half-baked search after another. Now, you've found her and you're still distracted, even more so, which I didn't think was possible."

"And what would you have me do?"

"Bring her back for fuck's sake. Her and the rugrat. Take them to your home, buy her a toaster or a vacuum or whatever ridiculous aphrodisiacs human woman enjoy, get a television to park the kid in front of, and come back to work, fulfill your duties."

"I am fulfilling my duties," he went back to rummaging through papers.

"No, you are maintaining appearances, barely. I am fulfilling your duties."

He gave her a warning glare. "What you are doing, is trying my patience, Pamela."

"And you are trying mine, _Master_." His fangs snapped down at the sarcasm biting her words. "You know I will continue to serve you, to help you in any way I possibly can, but something must be done here. You are struggling and you do not even realize it. I have never seen you like this; it worries me."

He moved to put a hand on her cheek, watching as she leaned into the touch. "You are a good child," he said. "You make me proud." He surveyed the mass of files gathered in the office with a sigh.

"What will you do?"

"I am uncertain. Sookie refuses to come home."

"Since when do humans make the decisions?"

Eric smirked at her, but it slowly faded from his face. "Since she has my son, and she makes good points about his safety."

"We have never been unable to handle a conflict successfully."

"I have never had a human son before."

Pam nodded slightly in acquiescence. "They do tend to be easily broken," she crinkled her nose. "And smelly."

"It is a confusing state of affairs."

"Well think of something, Eric, and soon. I grow tired of sitting in that damn throne. I hardly get to scare anyone anymore."

* * *

Alone in his office, Eric made a move to shoulder his bag of paperwork, eager to make his way up North. Suddenly, his door flew open and a man rushed in, behind him Pam raised an eyebrow and grinned wickedly at her Maker.

"Another Stackhouse," she drawled. "I know how you adore them."

She shut the door behind her and Eric was left staring at a panting Jason, trying to quell his urge to glamor the man and fly away. He sank into his chair.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Stackhouse?" He gritted out.

"I want to know what you know about my sister!" The man looked wildly around the office as if he expected Sookie to materialize. Eric smiled thinly.

"Clarify."

"Yeah," Jason raked a hand through his hair, the damp stands curling at the ends. "I've been watching you."

"You've. Been watching, me?" Eric widened his eyes slightly and Jason took a step back unconsciously.

"Sure have! You were always comin' around, trying to scare me, trying to make me tell you where Sookie was, as if I know!" As an afterthought: "As if I'd tell you if I knew!" He stared at Eric, breathing hard, until the vampire waved his hand to urge him to continue. "You stopped comin' and I thought that was weird. For two years you bothered me and Sam and anyone else you could get your cold, dead hands on. And then poof: nothin'. I just don't trust it. So I've been watchin' you and you ain't hardly been around here. You're always runnin' off, but I can't follow you because you fly, which is cool...but annoying in this case."

"And your theory is?"

"I think you've got Sookie captured somewhere! That's why she's been gone! You've been holding her prisoner and I want her back, now!"

Eric shook his head in disgust with the situation in which he currently found himself.

"Why would I question you on her whereabouts if I had her the whole time?"

Jason faltered. "To cover your tracks!"

"No," Eric said simply. "Underdeveloped theory. You're wrong." He stood and began gathering his bag.

"Now hold on!" Jason held up a hand and when he made a move to grab Eric's arm, Eric glowered at him so that he backed away quickly.

"Listen to me carefully," Eric spoke slowly, hoping to make the man understand. "You are to stop watching me or I will hurt you. I do not have Sookie captured as my prisoner. You should focus more on your own pathetic life and try to get that in order instead of running around playing big brother." He paused at the door and then turned back to the crestfallen man. "If I could bring her back, I would, believe me."

* * *

By the time he reached Sookie's house, he was exhausted. He knocked three times in rapid succession on the door and she opened it almost immediately.

"Eric!" She smiled radiantly at him and he stepped inside and put down his bag.

"You're just in time!" She took his jacket and motioned toward the kitchen. "Asher's in his highchair, I made pasta for dinner." As she hung up his coat, he walked into the kitchen and ruffled the toddler's hair. Asher's hands swiped at his father's and Eric grinned when his chubby fingers latched on to Eric's much bigger thumb and squeezed.

"Quite the grip," he complimented the boy.

Sookie smiled at both of them when she came in. "How was work," she asked, sticking a Trueblood in the microwave.

"Fine," he said, then added, "busy."

"Good to see Fangtasia's still a draw." She winked at him.

"Yes. Business is better than ever."

She plopped the Trueblood down and took a seat across from him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Look at us, just a regular family sitting down to dinner together."

She strapped a bib on Asher and handed him a miniature spoon. Eric watched apprehensively as the boy immediately began shoving pasta into his mouth with his hand.

"You let him eat it himself?"

She shrugged. "He'll make a mess, but he likes it and it helps him learn. I'll give him a bath later anyway."

Eric nodded and raised the synthetic blood to his lips, swallowing thickly. "I believe it's time," he said without preamble.

"Time?"

"For you to return." When she looked at him blankly, he continued. "To Louisiana, to Shreveport, to live with me."

"No."

"Listen to me-"

"I said no, Eric."

"If you would, for once, listen to me-"

"Goddammit, Eric!" Her fork crashed against her plate as she looked up at him. The room sat in uneasy silence. Asher looked back and forth between his parents with his blue eyes wide and his lip trembling. Sookie sighed. "It's okay," she said to him. Then, more gently, "it's okay, Asher." Without looking at Eric, she spoke, "The only reason we've been safe this long is because we left. No one knows anything about us and it has to stay that way."

"You are living a life of fear," Eric's voice was stiff. "This is not the life you desire, the life you must have envisioned for yourself, Sookie. Be reasonable. Safety? What kind of safe life is it where you fear every stranger, where you don't allow yourself to be with the people you care about, the people who care about you? If you would only stop being so afraid, then you could really start living. Then, you could provide a true life for our son."

"And what do you know about life?"

"I was alive once," his face was the perfect image of stoicism, but his eyes were tender. "With you. I remember everything that happened during our time together: every smile, every whisper, every touch. They haunt me. I never used to dream; what use does a vampire have for dreams? Before you, I was satisfied with my life as it was: the bar and underlings and fangbangers. I was _fine_ with that." His voice was tight with anger. "You and your complications took over my life and when I became human, well," he smiled bitterly. "You made me dream of heaven, for the first time in a thousand years.

"Sometimes I wish, I wish I had never met you. I wish I had killed you when I had the chance, in the very beginning. Then these dreams," he palmed his forehead, as if in physical pain. "These fucking memories wouldn't come to me every night, so vivid they hurt my eyes. One image after another, of happiness, our happiness. Happiness so pure and complete and real that the sorrow accompanying it wakes me in the day, leaves me reaching out for you, for a ghost.

"But then when I think like that, when the thought first edges into the corner of my mind, I realize how false it is. I wouldn't give up a single moment of our time together for anything in this world. The pain is worth it, it feels good even, addicting; it shows me that it was real. It was the best time of my life and don't you dare try to pretend it wasn't the best of yours as well." She said nothing. "We could have that again, Sookie, if you would stop being so afraid."

The tears welling in her eyes were obvious, but she shook her head. "That moment, those people we could have been, it's gone now, we can't go back; too much has happened."

"Do not be such a coward!" His nostrils flared in anger and she gazed at him in astonishment, ignoring the tears that were now leaving trails down her cheeks.

"A coward? You really have the audacity to call me a coward, you bastard?"

Eric's jaw clenched. "I tell the truth."

"Really? And how am I a coward? For wanting to protect our son? For spending every minute of my life for the past two years thinking about what was best for him and ignoring anything that I wanted that could endanger him? This is cowardice?"

"And I suppose you maintain that leaving was the brave thing to do?"

"No," she whispered, never breaking eye contact with him. "Leaving was the hardest thing I ever did. I agonized over it for days. I sobbed, I threw things, I changed my mind a million times. Leaving was unbearable and it felt brave, but it wasn't. You know why?" He shook his head fiercely, defiantly. "Because once I was gone, it was easy, it was peaceful. I didn't have to worry about vampires fighting over me or trying to kill me, or werewolves ambushing me. Leaving was _easy_. It wasn't brave because it was safe and safety was what the baby growing inside of me needed."

"You should not have left."

She exhaled slowly. "Yes, I should have. I'm sorry that I hurt you and I'm sorry you and Asher missed out on each other, and watching the two of you, I've been thinking that maybe I should have stayed, but I know, deep down that what I did was right. Please, Eric," she choked. "Just because it's difficult doesn't make it wrong. I have to think like a mother first, not girlfriend. He's here today, able to play with you and be a son because I protected him by leaving and allowing him to survive."

He looked away. "You will come back now."

"No," her voice was gentle. "Don't you see? I've risked his life enough simply by letting you back in it."

"Risked his life? I am his goddamn father! I am his _father_!"

Asher looked up from his food at the rage in Eric's voice, but when his parents sat quietly for a few moments, he went back to slurping noodles and making a finger painting in the sauce.

"I don't mean to insult you, Eric. You're a great father, but you must know that you come with a dangerous amount of baggage."

"Baggage?" He snorted.

"Yes, vampire sheriff baggage. The kind that tries to kill you and the ones you care about on a regular basis? It's like Bill said, trouble follows you."

"You would support the words of a vampire who lied to you from the very first moment he met you? A vampire whose impetuousness and foolishness caused him to first attempt to bury me in cement and then stab me with a knife to kill me?" He looked so enraged, Sookie imagined she saw steam coming out of his ears. She held up her hands, palms out to reveal the surrender.

"It has nothing to with Bill. It's the fact that your life and the choices you make are dangerous. I have been blind to it in the past and even when I saw it, I continued to overlook it, and that was fine. That was my choice; to be with you, damn the consequences. But Asher doesn't have that choice, and so, as his mother, I have to make it for him, and I have to ignore what I want and figure out what is best for him, and that is staying alive. And I'm just not sure that's possible if we go back with you."

"I could protect you."

"Do you realize what you're asking here, Eric? You want a twenty month old toddler to enter a world full of vampires, witches, werewolves, and God-knows what else, half of which have it out for his father, and you think he'll survive? What about during the day? What if someone comes for us then? Or what about night for that matter? Is he to hang around Fangtasia every night while you sit on your throne and let people gawk at you? I'm sure he'll thrive in an environment filled with murderers and alcohol and obsessive fans."

"I could hire my people to watch over the two of you when I could not," he said tersely.

"And how long until "your people" turn on us? How long until a king or queen orders them to do something to Asher? Or until some past enemy whose girlfriend you fucked or brother you killed hears about this vulnerable, human son and decides to seek some easy revenge? Pam, yes, I could understand trusting her, but do you really think the two of you could stand against every other supernatural creature whose loyalties shift with the weather or who hate you? He's not even two years old, Eric-"

"Well then when will he be old enough? Should I wait until he's sixteen or seventeen or twenty-five? When will he be old enough to be in my world?"

"I don't know, I don't know that anyone is ever really ready for that world."

"Oh," he sat back abruptly, a sneer taking over his face. "I see what this is truly about." Sookie looked at him uncertainly. "It's me you have the problem with."

"What? No, Eric-"

"You know what, Sookie? Yes I am vampire. I drink blood. I get into fights. I own a bar and people come there to drink and to stare at me and to _fuck_," he lingered tantalizingly over the word and she grimaced. "Yes I have killed people and I will again, but I would never do anything to harm my son, and that is much better than most of the human parents I have seen." His fangs were drawn in his anger, and he touched them gingerly, as if he suddenly realized they were there. "And how dare you assure me that I'm not a monster when we're in bed together when it's obvious that's all you will ever view me as! Were you so desperate for the fuck?"

Sookie put a hand over her mouth and shook her head mutely.

"No," she sputtered finally. "Eric, of course I don't think you're a monster! I don't have a problem with you being a vampire. You're a good person, no matter what you eat or what your line of work forces you to do." He was shaking his head and she sighed. "The truth is, Eric, you're not perfect. You're stubborn and annoying and you can be cruel sometimes, really cruel." He studied her silently. "But you know what? So can I. So can everyone, human, vampire, mermaid, whatever. You make it sound as if I can lump you into one category, as if a person is either good or bad. In reality, we're all both, including you, Eric. There is darkness and cruelty and bad in all of us, just as there is light and kindness and good. I see both in you, and I'm not afraid of your darkness. You're not perfect, but no one is. You are good for me. You're good for Asher. You're perfect for us, and that's what's important. What doesn't fit is your life and the dangerous people in it. So many bad things could happen if we went back with you," her voice was a hush, as if she were afraid to even speak her fears aloud, less some cosmic force hear her and make them come true. "Asher could die. I could die. You…You could die, Eric. The thought burns me."

Fangs retracted now, he looked at her seriously. "Death does not scare me, Sookie. What I am afraid of is losing you again."

"I can't go back, not now, not with him so fragile."

"What then?" His anger was rising once more.

"I don't know!" she cried desperately. "I don't have a plan! Why are you rushing this? We should take the time to think it through, this isn't a game!"

Eric sat still and somber, looking every bit as unemotional and vampire as she had ever seen him. "You talk about how love isn't simple like it is portrayed in Hollywood movies; How it's much more complicated and complex in real life, but you're wrong. You are a telepath and I am a vampire and our lives are dangerous and yes, that's complicated, but don't you see that you're missing the point?" He paused. "We love each other. It's that simple. I love you and you love me. You can't get more basic than that. And we both love Asher. Sometimes love just works. There's a reason that those movies are made; sometimes they're real.

"How will we be a family if I can't be in your life? If I have to scuttle in secrecy back and forth, always missing things, always half-interacting in either life? I can't go into hiding with you, others will come after me. It is safer at my home where I have loyal followers. There will be threats, there will be battles, but we will survive."

"But that's just the life I didn't want Asher to have, one where both he and his parents are hunted."

"Then what?" he asked, suddenly looking as tired as she felt. "What?"

Sookie sighed desperately as she looked over at their son, the source of so much intense love and mind-numbing fear. She watched as the pasta sauce ran down his hands and onto his wrists, staining the edges of his sleeves blood red.

"I don't know."


	9. Chapter 9

"What is it?"

Sookie startled at his voice and tore her gaze away from the window.

"It's nothing I just…I thought I heard someone out there."

Eric moved beside her and studied the dark abyss of the backyard. "Nothing," he said finally. "You're just nervous."

"Yeah," she ran a hand through her hair and exhaled. "I shouldn't be. My fairy relatives watch the place for me. It was part of our deal."

"Deal?"

She looked away. "In exchange for them helping me break the blood ties and find this place, in order for them to agree to help watch out for us, I…I promised I'd stay away from vampires." At Eric's look she stammered, "It was what they demanded. They said it's not natural for fairies and vampires to fraternize; that you're dangerous." She winced apologetically. "I was pretty desperate and since part of my hope was to keep Asher away from supernaturals, I agreed."

Eric's eyebrow rose. "They monitor this?"

"Not sure. I never really know when they're watching or not; they're not here all the time and they don't usually show themselves. Someone visits once a month to talk with me and tell me what they've noticed. Generally we don't have much to talk about since nothing really lurks around here except deer."

"How long has it been since their last visit?"

"A little less than a month. I'm sure they'll have a lot to say to me this visit." She bit her lip. "Eric, about before…" She trailed off, unsure of what to say. She wanted to apologize for their argument, to fall into his arms and tell him he was right. She wanted to go back home with him and Asher and start living like a real family. The baby monitor on the counter crackled with static as Asher rolled and sighed in his sleep.

"I can't. I just can't right now. I know that seems awful and selfish to you, but…but we're safe here. We've been safe for two years. There aren't a lot of supernatural creatures around here and no one knows who I really am. I'm Sandra and he's Asher, and that's all people know. It's boring and part of me is unhappy, but I can't give it up yet. Asher is just, he's just too important to risk on a whim. I mean, someday, when you and I work out a plan, I do want to bring him back with you. But now, looking at him, he's still unsteady on his feet, he's just learning to talk, and he's happy. Vulnerable and happy and, God it is selfish, but I just can't stand to see him loose that innocence so soon." She raised her eyes to his. "Someday I promise, Eric, but we can't rush this. I just-"

"I know," he said softly. "I understand. This is difficult and I want you both to come back with me right now, but a plan is necessary. I have lived so long that sometimes I forget how precious life is." He brushed his knuckles against her cheek. "This arrangement cannot last forever, but you are right: it has kept you safe for this long, and until we decipher a way to keep you and Asher protected in Shreveport, it will do."

He placed his hands on either side of her face and she sagged against him, grateful for his strength and support.

"I have searched for you for so long and never in my dreams did I quarrel with you over matters of which we are on the same side." His thumb swept in lazy circles under her eye, catching a stray teardrop. "He is our son and we will do what we must to protect him. We will find a solution to this, and until then, we will enjoy our time together. Everything will be okay."

He kissed her then, like a promise, and she sighed into his lips, filling his lungs. He dug his fingers into her hair, massaging her scalp, and her head tipped back at the sensation, exposing her throat to his kisses.

"Once upon a time," he said sucking on the sensitive spot just below her ear. "There was a vampire."

She pushed against him to halt his movements and opened her eyes to meet his. "What kind of vampire?" she panted.

"An extremely old and powerful vampire, one whom everyone feared."

She grinned. "Sexy."

"He was." He pulled her hips against his own and resumed kissing down her body, ripping her shirt to expose her bra, and making her gasp at the delicious violence. "He had everything he could ever want: power, money, respect. He was pleased with his life. And then," he suckled at her breast through her bra, watching in satisfaction as nipples appeared beneath the fabric. "And then a witch cursed him."

Her hand tangled in his hair as she struggled to remain standing against his assault.

"She cursed him and made him human."

"How awful," she wheezed and then laughed when he nipped at her belly button.

"It was at first," he was still kissing her between words, trailing them toward her bedroom. "He felt weak and exposed for the first time in a thousand years. All he could think of was how much he wanted to become a vampire again. Until,"

The backs of her knees came in contact with the bed and she clutched at his arms to remain standing. "Until?"

"Until," he threw her down on the mattress and she bounced and shrieked, using her elbows to back herself toward the pillows as he slowly climbed onto the bed and crept toward her, a predatory glint in his eyes.

"Until," he said again, and, moving with vampire speed, he pinned her wrists with his hands and hovered above her. "He met a girl. And she fucked him." His kiss was rough and she arched against him, slipping her tongue in her mouth and slicing the flesh on his fangs so that he growled savagely and grasped her closer.

Finally he pulled away, licking his lips and looking down at her, looking so much like the human Eric that she had known that her breath stuck in her throat. "And he fell in love with her," he whispered. "She stole his heart right out from under him, so stealthy he had no idea until it was too late and he belonged to her, utterly."

She bit her lip and turned to wipe her face against the sheets, not even bothering an attempt to free her hands. "That bitch," she choked out and he grinned.

"No," he said and then her arms were released and he was touching her again and it was all she could do to keep from whimpering. "She was the knight on a white horse that stars in your movies."

She rolled her hips against his caress, nails scraping his back. "But he was the one who risked everything for her; he saved her brother and her friend."

"But she saved him," he rested his forehead against her and they both gasped as they joined. "She saved him," he repeated as he lost himself within her once again.

* * *

He moved quickly when Asher began crying a few hours later, determined not to let Sookie's slumber be disturbed. Asher looked up at him from his crib, his hair mussed and his blue eyes ringed red and droopy with sleep. At the sight of his father, his wail was desperate and he held up his arms in a silent plea.

Eric lifted the child and placed him against his chest, wishing fleetingly for a beat to soothe the babe.

"What is it? Did you have a bad dream?" Asher's cries had quieted to doleful mews and hiccups. "You don't have to worry," Eric's hand smoothed his son's hair, the chill of his skin comforting the damp heat at the back of the boy's neck. "You know what? Your father is a strong, powerful vampire and no one will dare harm you because I'll always be around to protect you, okay? I promise." He dropped a kiss on the baby's head and Asher sighed.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," Eric's fangs clicked down at the thought and Asher glanced up at the sound. He grinned at the sight of his father's teeth and snuggled his head against Eric's chest. As Eric paced around the room with the toddler, his breathing slowly evened to a deep croon and he became a sagging weight as he fell back into a peaceful slumber.

"See," Eric murmured, placing Asher back into his crib. "You trust me; you know I keep my promises."

He watched his son sleep for a while, the nightlight highlighting the already dominant features on the baby's face. Eric marveled at what a perfect combination of himself and Sookie Asher was.

"The son of a vampire and a fairy." Asher smacked his lips in his sleep causing the tiny cleft in his chin to appear even more defiant. Eric grinned. "You're going to be something," he told the boy. "I can feel it."

* * *

There were a few hours left till dawn when Eric made his way back to Sookie's bedroom. He was determined to stay in bed with her until the very last moment he could. She looked so serene in her sleep, so like their son, and he allowed himself a long moment to take her in. Imagine, he reflected, this mortal woman and tiny boy possessing so much control over a vampire sheriff.

He climbed into bed with her, wrapping himself around her, molding his body to hers in a way he had not done since he had been human. She sighed in contentment and he echoed the sentiment, the sensation of her heartbeat against his chest creating the illusion that it was his own. He felt undeniably joyful and so full he might burst. Being with Sookie comforted and calmed him in a way he still did not fully understand, but he no longer felt the need to question the effect. And watching Asher toddle around, well, it was almost as if he were gifted the opportunity to witness a part of his own humanity live on. Sookie and Asher offered him that best of both worlds: the power and adventure of being undead with the thrill and wonder of feeling alive.

"Family," he whispered into the silence of the room, smiling at the way it sounded, at the way that one word encapsulated all that had been missing from his life, all his unknown desires for the past millennium.

He was still smiling when he closed his eyes and inhaled Sookie's scent, and he was still smiling when her steady breaths washed over him and rocked him gently to place between awake and sleep, a place of peace and blankness. His smile felt real and pure and he allowed himself to relax, allowed his face to finally show what he was feeling deep inside.

They lay like that, intertwined in each other, for hours, safe from the fear and anger that plagued them in their waking hours; safe from the horrific thoughts that lurked in the corners of their minds. They gave themselves this night to be free.

Eric felt it in that moment, the hope that this could work out, that they three could be a family, and his smile broadened_. Everything will be okay_. It was unseen to him, just beyond his view and past the haven of his fantasy, that outside the bedroom window, a dark and sinister smile reflected his own.


	10. Chapter 10

_Thanks so much for the reviews, everyone! I read each and every one of them and they make my day! I hope you enjoy this! -R_

* * *

"Shit." Sookie hopped on one foot and grasped her stubbed toes gingerly. She spared a glance at her burning flesh and then raised her eyes to the clock. She swore again. Throwing on a pair of flats, she grabbed her purse and swooped Asher into her arms with the grace of well-rehearsed movements. "Late, late, late," she sang to him as her eyes searched the house for any forgotten items. "And I still have to get you to the babysitter."

She reached for the door, but paused when Asher howled. She followed the trajectory of his outreached arms, chubby fingers opening and closing in a desperate grasping motion. His stuffed bunny was slumped on the couch, and she jogged over to retrieve it, Asher bouncing happily in her arms.

"Here, sweetie." He had been obsessed with the animal since Pam had gifted it to him a week ago and he snuggled contentedly against its soft brown fur.

Sookie buckled him into his car seat and raced around to her side. Two babysitters regularly watched Asher while she was at work, one came to her house and the other required that she drop Asher off. Unfortunately, on a day where for no particular reason things seemed to be taking longer than expected, she was supposed to bring Asher to the babysitter's home.

Although she longed to speed and tempt the timing of yellow traffic lights, with Asher in the car she forced herself to obey the law, gnawing anxiously on her thumb nail as the minutes ticked by.

When she reached the house, the door practically shook with the urgency of her knocking. Thankfully, it swung open within moments and the young woman who greeted them smiled in sympathy.

"One of those days," she asked, gently transferring Asher from his mother's arms to her own.

Sookie shot her a grateful look. "Happening more and more lately. Hopefully my boss's five minute grace period is flexible enough to extend to a twenty minute allowance." She brushed a quick kiss on Asher's forehead and ruffled his hair so that he giggled. "I'll be back to get him around ten tonight," she hollered over her shoulder as she raced down the walkway. "Thanks!"

* * *

"I know, I know!" Sookie rushed into the backroom of the restaurant and crookedly tied on an apron. "I'm sorry I'm late!"

Her manager chuckled at her disheveled appearance. "Relax, Sandra. Every once and a while we all have one of those days. It hasn't gotten busy yet anyway, we're fine."

"Thanks," she smiled at him and tugged her hair into a high ponytail. "I don't know what happened; the morning just got away from me."

When she turned back to him, he was looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "What," she asked, glancing down at herself self-consciously. Everything seemed in place, a bit wrinkly and askew, but nothing too outlandish. She spun to face the mirror and froze. Two angry, red puncture wounds marred the skin on her neck, just above her collar bone. She sighed inwardly. Eric had left early the night before to get back to Shreveport, but they had managed to fit in a quick love making session. She had forgotten that in a rush of passion he had drank from such a visible place, and in her haste this morning she had barely glanced at her reflection.

In another situation she would have felt annoyed by the judgment coming from her boss, she probably would have even told him off, but this wasn't Bon Temps. This was a small town up north that had no vampires and liked it that way. This was a place where she was determined to maintain a low profile and provide for Asher's sake.

Her manager was brushing by her, headed to the kitchen, and she put a hand on his elbow.

"Louie," she protested.

He shrugged her off. "It's starting to get busy, Sue needs backup. Hurry up." The words were spoken aloud, but Sookie heard loud and clear what he did not have the gall to say to her face: _'Dirty whore.'_

She sat alone in the room for a few moments, feeling her steady resolve beginning to crumble to exasperation and tears. Shaking her head, she grabbed some make up from her purse and began dutifully applying it to the abrasions on her neck so that they dulled to a barely noticeable pink. She wanted to storm out and quit. This place had long hours and rude customers and now to add prejudice and bigotry to that list, well that was just too much. Instead, she let her hair down, arranging it so that the blond strands covered the afflicted area. She had surprised Louie; people in Bon Temps hadn't been very accepting of her and Bill at first either, some still weren't. Louie would probably calm down and nothing would come of this. He probably wouldn't even tell anyone else. She was still safe. Asher was still safe.

* * *

Once she began working, Sookie nearly forgot the incident in the hustle and bustle of the day. No one else noticed the bite and her coworkers were as friendly as ever. Louie kept his distance, but he clearly hadn't told anyone. The fact that he was maintaining her privacy urged her to respect his, and she purposely avoided his thoughts. She wanted to give him time to process. He didn't know much about her, but he knew she was a good worker and that she was a single mother with a young son; he would do the right thing.

The restaurant closed at nine, and they spent the next half hour cleaning the massive mess that had accumulated throughout the day. Louie was in the back, and Sookie and the other waitresses stumbled on tired feet, sweeping up crumbs and counting down the register. When the phone rang, they all exchanged looks, willing each other to pick up the line. Sookie rolled her eyes playfully and answered the call.

"Hello? Oh hey Carla," she shot a thumbs up to the other workers when she recognized the voice of another waitress on the line instead of a needy or disgruntled customer. "What? No, you weren't scheduled today. Oh, he called you in? No, no one called out; I'm not sure why he needed you. Okay, I'll tell him you just got the message and you're sorry. No worries." She hung up and stared at the phone hard for a few seconds. "I'm going to go give Louie the message," she said and her coworkers absently waved her off.

She was wiping her hands on her apron when she got to the backroom. "Hey," she said casually and Louie looked up. "That was Carla on the phone. She wanted to apologize for missing your call to come in today but she was out all day."

"It's fine." His voice was gruff and Sookie faltered.

"Why did you need her to come…" she trailed off when she noticed a cardboard box near the door. "What's this?" She bent down and rummaged through the contents. "These are my things!"

"Yeah," he wasn't looking at her. "I took the liberty of empting out your locker."

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. So there are your things. You can keep your tips for the night. Your last check will be mailed to you."

"Am I…are you firing me?"

"Yes." He met her eyes at last and his look was stony.

Her jaw clenched. "On what grounds?"

"C'mon, Sandra…"

"No! If I'm being fired I want to know the reasoning behind it."

"This was the third time you've showed up late. I can't rely on you."

"What?" she gaped at him. "It was twenty minutes, and you said it wasn't a big deal when I came in!"

"Well, the restaurant is getting busier and I need to know that all my workers are dependable…"

"Oh for Christ's sake, Louie," she snapped. "If you're going to fire me at least be man enough to tell me the real reason!"

He glared at her. "You know."

Oh she knew; his mind was practically broadcasting it. "I want to hear you say it."

"I can't employ someone who fraternizes with hazardous creatures. It endangers our customers and my other workers."

"Louie, I've worked here for a year. You know I'm not dangerous!"

"Apparently I don't know you very well."

"So what, you're so worried that I'm a liability, but you let me work all day before you let me go? That's bullshit!"

"Sandra, you're fired. That's the end of it."

Her eyes scanned the room in disbelief. "Please," she whispered, feeling drained. "I need this job. I have a son."

"I know," his tone was icy. "And I feel bad for him that he has a mother who would put him in such danger."

He stood and walked past her without another word and she hung her head. Stooping, she picked up the box with her belongings. At the top, gazing back at her was a picture of Asher.

* * *

Asher was asleep when she picked him up from the sitter's, so the ride home was silent. The dark roads were gloomy and shadowed by leafless trees, and the ambiance matched her feelings well. From her shameful walk out of the restaurant to the drive to collect Asher, she had felt overwhelmingly depressed, but now that sadness was beginning to evolve into fury. She was angry at Louie for being a biased asshole. She was angry at Eric for biting her in such a visible place and for returning and upsetting the equilibrium their lives had gained in the past two years. She was angry at herself for forgetting that the marks were there and for getting involved with vampires in the first place. She was angry at all the prejudice that still existed in the world and how unfair everything was for so many people. But most of all, she was angry at her situation, at the fact that she had to hide her relationship with the man that she loved for fear that her son would be harmed. Why couldn't they just have a normal life?

She parked the car in the driveway and shut off the engine, resting her forehead against the wheel. People would know now; Louie was bound to explain why he had fired her; to gossip about her promiscuous and lurid ways. Word would spread that she was sleeping with a vampire. It would be easier to find them now. Their cover had been compromised. She tried to calm her racing mind. What did this mean? They had to leave, but where would they go? Back to Shreveport? There still wasn't a plan in place for that. To another anonymous location until a better plan could be hatched? She had to call Eric and figure this out.

She stepped out of the car and began walking to the passenger side to retrieve the baby. She felt an overpowering blankness fill her mind, and she whirled instinctively with her hands up, preparing to blast the vampire, but she was too late. Before she could think, a vice-like grip was pinning her arms to her sides and there was the firm wall of a body behind her.

"You're fast," Russell seethed in her ear. "But I'm faster."

* * *

The knock on the door was soft and hesitant and therefore most definitely not Pam. Eric sighed and looked up from his paperwork.

"Come in," he intoned.

A man slowly walked in, closing the door behind him. He was tall and broad, with rippling arms and a thick chest and neck, making his bald head look too small for his body. The human guests at Fangtasia were always fantastically terrified of him. Currently, he looked as though he might wet himself.

"I thought you'd be on your throne," he smirked weakly.

"I was for a few hours, but I have responsibilities other than arousing customers." Eric went back to his paperwork and the younger vampire stood there awkwardly. "Was there something you needed to say to me?" Eric's voice was sharp and annoyed. "I don't believe your job description includes gawking at me like a love-struck tween."

"Right," the vampire breathed a desperate sounding laugh. Ran a hand over his shiny head. "It's just, I mean…"

Eric rolled his eyes and set down his pen. "My patience is wearing thin."

"I went out to check on that place like you've had me do every week…you know the abandoned building?"

"Yes I am aware of the location."

"Okay…so I went there again tonight…. I just got back from there…"

Eric rose from his seat. "Get to the point, _now_," he gritted out.

Seeing Eric's obvious rage, the vampire began to stammer. "I.. I mean I don't know what it means, but I…I saw that the ground was…I mean…"

The door to the office flew open and Pam rushed in, looking alarmed. Eric tensed.

"Russell has escaped from beneath the abandoned building."

Her words hung heavily in the air and Eric's mind raced. _Where is Russell? How long ago did he escape? _

As if reading his mind, Pam added quickly, "There is no sign of him except the corpses of two teenaged boys. The bodies look a few weeks old."

Eric's eyes flicked to the bald vampire who was so pale he looked almost translucent.

"I've been checking that place for over two years and nothing has ever been there. You didn't tell me what I was looking for or why it was so important and for the past few weeks I've been distracted. I'm sorr-"

The word garbled in his throat as Eric's hand gripped his neck. "You have failed me," he snarled. "You are lucky I need everyone on this." He threw the vampire toward the door. "Go. Find Russell. Fail me again and you will meet the true death, this I promise you."

The vampire scrambled out of the door with lightning speed. Alone in the office, Pam and Eric looked at each other.

"Alert the staff here," Eric told her. "Vampire and human. Tell them Russell will be coming. Order everyone else to hunt him down."

"But that's what I don't understand, Eric," Pam said, sounding as distressed as he felt. "Why hasn't he come for us yet? You know he'll be out for blood, your blood. And those bodies have been there for at least two weeks, possibly three. What has he been doing?"

Eric pondered this for a few seconds, his thoughts skittering dangerously on the precipice of panic. "He would have had to take some time to recover. He's been buried for over two years. He'd have to feed a great deal and rest. Then he could have come after me." He paused, thinking hard. "You're right, this doesn't make sense. Why hasn't he come? He wants revenge. I burned him. I buried him. I killed Talbot." Eric froze. "Talbot. Pam, I killed Talbot." He grabbed his phone and dialed a number quickly, listened for a few beats and then clicked it shut angrily. "I killed his lover. He'll want to hurt me in the same way. He's been watching me, trying to figure it out. My God, I've led him right to her!"

"Eric-"

"Sookie!" He yelled, running toward the door. "He's going after Sookie!"

* * *

Her hands were clawing at his, her feet, bare after her struggle had kicked off her flats, scrambled in the dirt. She had screamed at first, prayed someone would hear her, that someone would come, but no one had. The heat of blood rushing down her neck made her throat and chest feel aflame while the rest of her body turned icy with the night air and blood loss.

Russell was groaning as he fed from her, sloppy and rough, biting her numerous times; she no longer felt the pain and her eyesight began to flicker ominously, as if she were watching a staticy television station.

He pulled back from her neck and roared savagely to the sky. Looking down at her, he tugged her hair so her heavy head fell back and her glassy eyes got a clear look at him for the first time in two years. Blood covered his face and he grinned maniacally at her.

"Lord, you are delicious." He licked the fingers on his left hand for effect, holding her drooping body easily with his right. "I'm almost tempted to keep you around so I can feed from you every night." Sookie groaned and attempted in vain to push away from him. He clucked good-naturedly at her. "Now, now, don't you worry your little fairy head about that. It's not part of the plan. I don't want Eric searching for you, harboring the hope that one day you two lovebirds will be together again. No, no. He's going to find your drained body, right here in the yard where I watched you two fuck." She closed her eyes. "Embarrassed?" He chuckled. "Don't be, it was quite a show, missy!

"You see, when I dragged myself out of that prison, my first thought was to kill that lunatic Viking. Then I realized, Eric has it right, death is too fast, too easy. It takes a lot for us to love, you know. We vampires are a hard bunch to get close to. But, oh, I loved my Talbot. Eric knew it, knew his one death was worth more than killing me a thousand times could ever be."

His studied her closely. "What is it about you that has that fool so enchanted? I mean, the blood I understand; you, my dear, are a delicacy. But all this sneaking around and cuddling? I just don't understand the shift in the heartless bastard."

Leaning over, he kissed her hard, shoving his tongue in her mouth, smearing her own blood on her lips. She gagged against him and he pulled back thoughtfully.

"No, I still don't get it." He smiled. "But you see, thankfully I realized before I killed your Viking that killing you would be much more fun. The word was that you were gone, but watching him, seeing the ridiculous bounce in his step made me realize that the situation wasn't that simple. You see, he was very preoccupied, very distracted, very in love." He daintily brushed the tip of her nose with his index finger. "You vixen.

"So I followed him one night. Frankly, I thought it would be more difficult, he does have quite the reputation you know, but I think you have him all aflutter! He led me right here, to this very spot. I was curious, so very curious, to know what had brought him so far into this expanse of shit," he looked around at the woods surrounding them and then shook his head at her. "I mean really, Sookie, what drew you to this place: the foliage? There's nothing here!"

When she said nothing, he shrugged and continued. "Anyway, my fun seemed about ruined when I saw that all the curtains were drawn and I was going to have to lurk outside with nothing to occupy my time, but then I saw one window with a view, and, just my luck, it was your bedroom and I was treated to a show.

"I thought for a few days about the best way to do this. Should I wait until Eric was here and immobilize him, make him watch me drain you? But then I realized, no. He should feel it from afar, the way that I did. He should sense it, feel it in his bones, that you're in trouble, and try desperately to get here, and then fall to his knees in sorrow when he realizes he's too late. Poetic don't you think? In fact, I imagine he's probably on his way here right now, flying through the air, that blond hair of his whipping around like a model on the cover of a romance novel. It really is too bad that it takes him so long to get here."

He was quiet for a moment and Sookie could taste the metallic sensation of blood in the back of her throat. Her brain shouted at her hand to strike out at him, to blast him with her fairy powers, but the nerve connections appeared to be fried, and all she could manage was a weak wiggle of her fingers.

"Well," he smiled down at her. "I suppose we should get this show on the road. Don't worry, I'll arrange your body nicely for him to find."

She gasped when his fangs broke her skin again, and she could tell with the first few draws of blood that he ingested that it wouldn't be long. She only hoped that Eric arrived before he saw that Asher was in the car, before he realized that Eric had a son.

Russell hummed his pleasure against her skin, his mouthful of blood gurgling in her ear. She prayed that Asher would live a good life. She asked God to help him be happy.

The night was eerily silent around them, magnifying the slurps and gulps he uttered as he ate messily. Suddenly, another sound filled the air, one that made Sookie's slowing heart race. From within the car, asleep and silent for all this time, Asher began to cry.

Russell froze against her and then pulled away, blood dripping from his mouth.

"Well now, who is that?" He stood abruptly and her limp body crashed to the ground, her head bouncing off the frozen dirt.

Russell peered into her car and reared back almost immediately. He looked from the baby in the vehicle to the dying woman on the ground a few times and then, slowly, a victorious grin took over his face.

"No," he said, beginning to laugh. "No, no, no. Tell me it isn't true. It's too perfect! A blond baby. A hidden getaway. A visiting vampire? It all makes sense now! So it's true that the Viking was turned human while I was buried! There are whispers in the night about it, but I doubted their validity. But now, now I see the fruits of that time! Well, Sookie, he's beautiful."

He reached into the car and Sookie's scream came out as a whimper. Her fingers twitched desperately, but her arms did not move. Asher continued to wail in Russell's arms but the vampire smiled at him.

"Hello there," Sookie watched while Russell stroked the baby's hair and then trailed his hand down to rest on his vulnerable pulse point. "I am _so_ pleased to meet you."

* * *

The sun was almost up when Eric landed in Sookie's yard. He ran around to the front, sensing her terror, sensing how near death she was. He had made it in time.

He saw her crumbled body and raced to her, realizing if possible, he would be out of breath. Sookie's eyes were closed and her breathing shallow. Her skin was bleached white as snow and his chest tightened with the fear that she was too far gone to help.

He tore into his own wrist and held it to her lips, supporting her head and neck so the liquid ran down her throat. He waited for tense minutes, but slowly her cheeks began to color and her heart regained some strength in its beats. Finally, her eyes fluttered and then opened. She continued to suck on his arms and he pulled her close, his relief almost consuming him.

"It's okay," he said soothingly. "You're okay." Russell's plan had failed. Eric almost smiled, but something at the back of his mind restrained him. Why had Russell stopped feeding? Why had he left Sookie here, near death, but able to be saved? Ice cold dread spread through his body so that he could feel the tingling horror in his fingertips and toes.

"Where's Asher?" He whispered calmly.

Sookie pulled back from his wrist, her strength slowly returning. "He's gone," she croaked.

"What?"

"He took him. Russell took our baby." She looked up at him, eyes so wide and stunned tears could not yet form. "He's gone. Asher's gone."


	11. Chapter 11

The stuffed bunny was on the ground. Sookie scrambled out of Eric's arms when she saw it. Still too weak to walk, she dragged herself over to it. It was rumpled and dirty and she tenderly brushed it off and held it to her face, inhaling the distinct smell of her son.

"He left the bunny. This is his bunny; he has to have it wherever he goes. If he doesn't have it he'll be afraid! He should have taken the bunny too. Asher is going to be scared without his bunny!" Her eyes were wide with shock and her shrill voice tweaked with hysteria.

She pulled back and looked at the rabbit sorrowfully. "What is this?" She scrambled toward where Eric was still crouched. "What is this?" She jabbed one of the rabbit's paws, smeared with a crimson stain, into his face. "Is this blood? Whose blood is this?"

Eric eyed her cautiously and slowly lowered her hand. "It's your blood. I can smell it. It's not Asher's. Asher was not wounded."

Barely seeming to register this fact, Sookie shot up from her spot on the ground and began sprinting toward the house, tripping and weaving, the lower half of her body seeming to straggle behind her torso.

"Where are you going?" Eric called, still unmoving from the earth.

"To call the police!"

Eric surveyed the mass amount of her blood that was staining the dirt and grass; it looked as though there had been a slaughter here tonight.

"They won't be able to do anything," he said quietly.

"Then I'll call Pam or Sam or Alcide!"

She was looking back at him as she ran, and her foot hooked something heavy, sending her tumbling to the ground. Landing on her hands and knees, she looked up slowly and shrieked. Eric was beside her in less than a second.

"Who are they?" His voice was grim.

Sookie's hand was covering her mouth, but she could not tear her eyes away from the mutilated bodies.

"My neighbors," she breathed. "Tom and Carol. Asher and I had dinner with them two nights ago."

She forced herself to rise and propelled her form around the corpses and to the back of the house. Eric followed her and was there to absorb the crash of her body when she stopped short a few feet away from the back door. Nailed around the frame were the bodies of Asher's ducks, some of them still twitching weakly.

Sookie stumbled back to the front yard, still dangling the bunny by one arm, out of breath by the time she reached her car. She bent her knees and rested her hands on them, hanging her head and greedily gulping in air.

"Why….why would he do all this?" She gasped.

Eric's face was tranquil. "He didn't wish to be disturbed."

She looked up at the tone in his voice. "Well he was disturbed. Asher disturbed him."

Her eyes began to fill with tears for the first time. Eric stood a few feet away, hands by his sides. "My God, he has Asher. He has Asher, Eric."

Eric pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and barked some commands into it. When he clicked it shut, he regarded her. "Go inside and collect your things."

"What?"

"Go inside and collect your things. Not too much, necessities only."

"But," she gaped at him and looked around. "It's almost daylight."

"Close all the curtains, we'll wait in the basement."

"Wait, wait for who?"

"Bobby is sending someone to get us. He can make the arrangements to get us there quickly."

"Where are we going?"

"To Shreveport. You're coming back home."

She swallowed. "What are we going to do?"

Grabbing her elbow firmly, he began leading her toward the house, around the bodies on the front lawn. At the door, he paused and looked down at her, the faintest trace of something flicking across his features before his face regained its stoicism. "I will hunt him down," his voice was firm. "I will get our boy back. I promise."

* * *

Despite the fact that it was still light out when they arrived, Pam was waiting for them just inside Fangtasia, blood staining her upper lip.

"Eric. Sookie." She placed her hand lightly on Sookie's shoulder for a moment, but then her attention was quickly focused on her maker. Smoke was swirling lazily from where the sun had kissed his skin. "I pulled the files you asked for," she said. "They're in your office."

"Excellent," he walked briskly to the back without a second glance and Pam followed. Sookie remained rooted to her spot, alone in the empty club. She was motionless, merely blinking and taking in the changes to the building she had known so well in her past.

Slowly, she extracted her phone from her purse and dialed a number, holding it to her ear with trembling hands. When the line connected, she said softly. "I'm at Fangtasia. Please come." And then she hung up, just as quietly, without waiting for a response.

* * *

Jason and Sam arrived just as the sun was beginning to set. Sookie had not moved from her original spot, arms dangling lifelessly by her sides. When the men entered the bar, she had a second to take them in, recognize that Jason's hair was longer, before she was swept into her brother's embrace.

"Sook," he breathed against her neck. "I thought you were dead." He lifted her so that her feet left the ground and Sam watched silently while the siblings swung back and forth gently. When Jason put her back down and pulled back to look at her, there were unshed tears shinning in his eyes.

"Where have you been? I was sure you were buried somewhere or those bastards turned you into a vamp or something."

"No," Sookie wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I've just been up North for a while."

"Up North?" His brow crinkled. "Why would you want to go there?"

"I just needed some time, some time to figure things out and get away from all the supernatural danger I was in down here."

Jason exhaled and put his hands on his hips. "It's the scary, giant vampire isn't it? I knew that son of a bitch had something to do with you going missing!"

"No, it's not Eric's fault; he didn't know where I was, I promise."

"Well, shit. You should have told me, Sookie. What kind of sister just runs away without saying anything? You didn't trust me?"

"No it's not that!" She shifted nervously from foot to foot. "I just needed to get away for a bit. I'm sorry I worried you. I'll explain everything; it's just, right now…"

Sam stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Sookie felt herself melt into the comforting gaze of his concerned eyes.

"What happened, Sookie?" He asked softly. "Why are you back? Where's Asher?"

Sookie's eyes dropped and Jason looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Who the hell is Asher?"

* * *

Eric threw the phone against the wall and roared in frustration. Pam regarded him, calm but alert, from her perch on the edge of the desk.

"I assume the queen said she wouldn't help?"

Eric was busying himself rummaging through files, the bloody drip from his ear beginning to dry.

"She claims that she cannot become involved in this mortal matter and suggested we contact the human police. She said it was her understanding that I followed orders and killed Russell two years ago, so Sookie must be mistaken about who took Asher," he glared up at Pam for a moment, daring her to comment. When she remained silent, he continued. "And even if she wanted to help, her monetary constraints are still unresolved and she has no extra employees to dispatch. It's bullshit!"

He threw one file onto the floor and began riffling through the next. Pam watched his hurried movements.

"We will find him, Eric. With or without help. Russell will want to toy with you on this issue," at his look she held up a hand. "No, listen. You need to calm yourself. You're thinking like one of _them_ when you need to be thinking like the sheriff. This is a conquest for Russell. He will want to torture you with it, with the fact that he has your son. He won't harm him. He'll need him for leverage, and his own ego will lead us right to him. You must be patient."

"I don't have the luxury of being patient, Pam. In case you have forgotten, my son is in a precarious and vulnerable position right now." He scanned a document and then grinned triumphantly. "This is it."

"What?"

Eric looked at her, his eyes almost black with murder. "Russell never works alone."

* * *

"I'm an uncle?" Jason repeated for the fourth time, slumping against the wall with a stupid grin on his face. "A nephew. That's just great, Sook! I'll be a great uncle to him."

Sookie smiled weakly at him. "I know you will be, Jason."

A door slammed shut and Sookie and Sam exchanged looks before turning toward the vampires. They were striding purposefully toward the door, Eric snarling quick orders at Pam, their rapport so deep that his words appeared as disjointed fragments to the outsiders.

"Do you find something?" Sookie asked, feeling a renewed energy for the first time in hours. "Where are you going?"

The hard look of determination remained on Eric's face as he brushed past her and headed toward the door.

"Hey!" Sookie grabbed his arm and he spun around to face her, hissing and baring his fangs. Sam and Jason instinctively shrunk back but Sookie was undeterred and moved closer.

"Don't ignore me!" She said angrily, still grasping his arm.

"I don't have time to attend to your every need right now," his words were singed with fury but she did not back away.

"I didn't ask you to. All I want are answers. What have you found out? Where are you rushing off to?"

"I'm going to save Asher."

He turned to leave but she gripped the material of his jacket and he forced himself to turn back to her. "What do you want, Sookie?"

"Don't just blow me off. He's my son too. Tell me what's going on!"

He shrugged her arm off and she stumbled back a step. Sam stepped forward uncertainly.

"Why don't you say what you're really thinking," Eric yelled, his voice sounding hysterical.

Sookie blinked. "What do you mean?"

Eric flew forward so that he was millimeters from her face, crouched into her space, hands squeezing her shoulders.

"Tell me it's my fault that this is happening. I know that's what you're thinking! I'm the one to blame!"

She shook her head and struggled to make him release her, but his fingers had a vice grip. "No," she gasped. "That's not true! I… I just want to know what's happening!"

"You want me to admit it's my fault. All of this."

"No," she tried to look away from his glower but found that she could not.

"I hunted you down. It's my enemy that wants to bestow revenge on me. I led him to you. I wasn't there when Asher was taken. SAY IT!" He shook her violently with each word.

Sam held up a hand. "Guys, stop. We need to be united right now."

Eric's eyes didn't leave Sookie's. "Say it," he gritted out.

"Yes," she spat, writhing herself in his hold so that he finally released her. She stood in front of him, trembling with rage. "You know what? Maybe it is. If you weren't so obsessed with revenge Russell would be dead. If you weren't so ruthless you wouldn't have enemies that would come after us so much."

Eric's jaw clenched. "Vampires have enemies and the child of a fairy telepath and vampire would be coveted regardless of my ways."

"Yes, but you make a sport out of creating enemies. Russell didn't hunt us down because he wants my blood or my powers or because he's curious about Asher's abilities; he came for us because of what you did to him. Don't you see? This is why I left. This is why I shouldn't have let you back in our lives. You're dangerous and cruel and you don't even see it."

Sookie panted with the exhaustion of her outburst. All the energy she had felt was drained so that she swayed on her feet. Eric's glare was like steel, but he remained silent. He turned to leave and Pam followed him. At the door, he paused and turned his head slightly without meeting her eyes.

"I will get him back." His voice was soft and his departure sent a whirl of air swirling around her.

Sookie stared at the spot where he had been, her chin beginning to tremble slightly. Sam's arms were around her in an instant and she allowed herself to sink into his warmth. She nuzzled against his chest, hands clinging to his shirt, her tears staining the cotton. Jason stood a few feet away, shifting uncomfortably.

She raised teary eyes to look at Sam. "What will we do? What will we do if he can't find Asher? I'll die if something happens to him. I'll die."

Sam tightened his arms around her as she began to sob in earnest. "Shh," he murmured, rubbing comforting circles on her back. "Everything's going to be okay. Asher is going to be fine. Eric will find him."

"Who says it's got to be Eric?"

They both turned at Jason's words and he blinked at them. "I don't know about you two, but I'm not just going to stand around while some vamp kidnaps my nephew. We can find him. We can save him."

Sookie sniffled and pushed away from Sam's chest. Wiping her eyes, she nodded. "Jason's right. I can't just sit here. I have to do something."

She turned to go and Sam grabbed her.

"Sookie, be logical here, Eric's out looking with Pam and the other vampires. Russell is an ancient vampire; we're no match for him. He'll kill us in seconds."

She studied him seriously for a moment and nodded. "You're right, and I don't expect either of you to help me. But Asher is my son, and if I have to choose between doing nothing and waiting for something to happen to him or dying in my attempt to save him, I'd rather die a thousand times."

* * *

The house was empty. Eric howled and ripped a door from its frame, tossing it against the wall so a mirror shattered into a thousand pieces around them.

"You really think this werewolf will know where Russell is?"

Eric's nostrils flared as his eyes swept the area, brain racing to settle on his next move.

"She was his most loyal pet. He'll need assistance to orchestrate whatever plan he has. He's been buried for two years and I bet he sought her out for aid at the first opportunity."

"Then we'll find her," Pam said simply.

Eric roared in agony again, punching his fist through the wall so that the tear on his flesh matched his insides. Pam moved beside him, and although she did not touch him, he felt the comfort as if she had wrapped him in her arms.

"We'll find her. Then we'll find Russell and Asher will be saved."

Eric blinked at her, a streak of red smearing his cheek.

"You will have you family again."

At the word, Eric's eyes closed tightly, his fist clenched, the wounds healed but the blood remaining.

"I will get them back," he repeated firmly, and flew into the night.


	12. Chapter 12

_Hi everyone, just wanted to thank you again for the reviews, you guys are the best! I realize this part of the story is a bit dark, but I'm trying to stay true to this crazy world. Hope you enjoy! -R _

* * *

The graveyard was quiet. It was funny to her that this is what she thought about in that moment, when a million other more paramount, appropriate, and pressing issues should have been dominating her mind, all she could focus on was the silence. It was dark, too. The kind of moonless night where the baleful clouds ink the sky black so that not even a single twinkle of a star has hope to shine through. She let all this wash over her; consume her so she felt it in her bones, in the very make-up of her being. The damp of the earth, the caress of the wind, the whispers of leaves, anguished calls of insects, all of it swept her in until they filled all her senses and became her world. She grew conscious of her breaths, slow and deep, swelling her lungs to the brink and then expelling in a satisfying rush.

If she looked beyond the trees, branches heavy with life, she would see her old home, full of light once again as Sam and Jason paced the floors and made phone calls. She wanted to go back to that house and run her fingertips along the wall in the hallway and bury her face in the quilt that her grandmother had made. She had the urge to turn on the TV and jump on the bed.

'_Welcome home_,' Jason had said when they'd walked in. As if any place could be home now without the presence of scattered toys and Wiggles DVDs. '_Where's the Winnie the Pooh nightlight_,' she'd wanted to ask. Yet this was home; she still smelled it right away, the scent from her dreams, wrapping around her like chicken soup sliding down her throat to ward off a cold or the arms of her grandmother after a nightmare. But if this was home, then who was she? Because it didn't fit her, not anymore, not with who she was now. Everything looked right, but she knew it was all wrong.

'_Can you go home again?'_ She imagined the stories she would one day weave about this place._ 'This is where I built the fort,' 'This is the rock I would stand on when the grass became lava and I had to figure out how to safely get across,' 'This is where I had my childhood. And there was joy, but there was so, so much pain too, and I didn't want that for you. I wanted you to keep pretending that rock was a mountain and that log was a spaceship, and I am so sorry that your monsters are real.'_

"Esoteric thoughts, cousin?"

She wasn't surprised to hear the voice, she had heard the approaching's quiet movements, and the intentional furtive action flared her anger so that her fingers crackled.

She didn't turn around, didn't give the other woman the privilege of her gaze, although she now had her full attention. "I'm just wondering how after all this time, after all the promises of protection and allegiance, was I attacked and my son taken without my fairy relatives stepping in."

The fairy stepped in front of her, so beautiful she seemed to draw all light in the dark night directly to herself. "We told you he would only bring you harm," her voice had a sashaying rhythm to it, a gentleness that made Sookie's blood boil.

"Where were you?" She demanded.

Her cousin tilted her head and smiled tenderly, the same look Sookie gave Asher when he spilled milk. "We left when it became clear you were once again fornicating with a vampire."

Sookie was too incensed to be embarrassed. "He is Asher's father and the man I love."

"He is no man, but a beast."

"Bullshit," Sookie snapped. "He's the best man I know. How dare you judge him without knowing him! How dare you attempt to control my life! You should have told me your protection was gone."

"You made the promise at the beginning of the arrangement, cousin. We pledged to offer protection if you would agree to our terms: no vampires. You should have known at the breach in our contract that we would leave. It is not safe for our kind around such demons," her voice remained calm and even, never breaking from its musical lilt.

"Don't say things like that about Eric!" White hot lightening sparked around Sookie's fingertips and good-natured amusement danced in the fairy's eyes. "He is a good person and I love him! Asher and I are your family, you should honor that! Eric makes us happy."

"We were lenient enough to forgive your aberrant behavior in the past. Such deviance continued is not to be tolerated."

"I never asked for your forgiveness and I sure as hell don't have to answer to you. Eric deserves your respect and he has my love and that will never change. Now will you help us or not?"

The fairy's smile was now tinged with sadness and as she shook her head, golden curls cascaded around her face. "You have made your choice. I am sorry, cousin. And your son was foretold to do great things."

There was a slight pop as the woman disappeared, and Sookie was left alone, mouth agape and questions swirling in her head.

"Foretold?" She repeated to the night air, with only the wail of the crickets left to answer her.

* * *

Life: it called to him. The skittering of a terrified heart thundered in his ears. The stench of fear permeated his senses and dilated his pupils. He melded closer to the shadows, knowing with absolute confidence that he was invisible to all beings in this forest. There had been a brief rainstorm and the trees dripped with oversaturation while animals hid in silence. They were safe in their nests and burrows. His prey, however, was not.

Eric felt a slight thrill rush through him. How long had it been since he had hunted in such a manner? Not since well before the revelation. It was glorious in a way, being tapped into the primeval aspects of his physical body, feeling every strain of a muscle, every rustle of his hair as his senses heightened to a supernatural level. No matter how complicated the world or his reasoning was, there was simplicity in this: predator and prey. He was all that was predator in this moment, now it was time to seize his prey.

The wind shifted and the smell of her movement blew directly into his face. It was almost too easy, really. He grabbed her by the tail and lifted the body up off the ground. When she reached around to snap at him, his other hand gripped her jaws and squeezed. The wolf howled. Eric threw the animal onto the ground, mud splattering him, weeping like tears down his cheeks. He planted a booted foot onto the animal's ribcage as it struggled for release, adding pressure until he heard a crack.

The air shimmered around them and the wolf transformed into a woman, naked and bleeding.

"Debbie Pelt," he snarled.

"Stop!" Her fingers dug desperately at his shoe, another rib snapping. "Oh God, stop! What do you want?"

"Tell me where Russell is."

She blinked up at him, drenched and dirty, even now almost unrecognizable as a human. "Russell?"

Her hesitancy earned her a dig of his heel and she squirmed. "STOP! Russell's _dead_! You killed him years ago!"

He had her off the ground in a second and she had a moment to feel relief before she recognized the restriction his hand created on her windpipe.

"Russell is alive." He shook her body and her toes dangled above the earth, a slow drip of mud and blood streaking from her toes.

"What?" she gasped. "He is?"

His fingers tightened so she began to see spots dance before her eyes. "Tell me where to find him," he gritted out.

"You think I know where he is?" She croaked. Her eyes began to burn as blood vessels ruptured. Her fingernails scrapped weakly at his wrist. He slammed her body to the ground and she lay gasping on her stomach until he pulled her up by her hair. She was on her knees, her back against his chest, and she sobbed when he clutched a hand on either side of her face, digging into the flesh of her chin and temple.

"You think he's contacted me?" She was trembling in his hold, chest heaving.

He growled into her ear, "I think you're going to fucking tell me what I need to know before I rip your throat out."

She panicked and pulled away from him but his hold was too strong.

"I don't know!" she screamed, feeling a strain beginning at the back of her neck. "I don't know!" She could feel the rumble deep in his chest and tears and snot dripped down her face. "Idon'tknow!Idon'tknow!Idon'tknow," she babbled incoherently, her voice becoming hysterical as Eric increased the pressure. "I don't know!"

Her final scream echoed in the forest as Eric's lip curled and hands twisted. He stood and watched her torso drop forward onto the ground, the bloody stump of her head still in his grasp. He gazed at it calmly for a moment, almost as much blood now covering him as mud. Then, with an animalistic roar, he hurled the woman's head away from him, barely registering as it struck a tree and exploded.

He stormed around the area, howling at the top of his lungs, uprooting bushes and punching trees. "WHERE IS HE?" Rain was beginning to fall again, but it didn't slow his violence. He continued wreaking havoc on the surrounding nature, his yells hoarse and desperate now.

Only the sound of his phone calmed his actions and he stood, jaw clenched, in the mist for a few moments, allowing the water to wash away the filth covering him, before he clicked the phone open.

He pressed the phone to his ear and said nothing.

"You're leaving a bloody trail all around you, you messy boy," a voice purred. Eric whirled around, searching the surrounding area, finding nothing. He continued to search, moving quickly but carefully through the trees.

"Russell. Give it up. Return Sookie's son to her. This fight is between the two of us."

Soft laughter crackled through the connection. "So innocent, Eric, to believe that I don't know what the boy really is. Who he comes from."

Eric paused, hair plastered to his head and dripping in his eyes. "He is just a child, Russell. He has nothing to do with this. If you're afraid to face me-"

"Oh," Russell's voice held pure amusement. "Is that that new thing called reverse psychology? Please my boy, your tried and trite methods of negotiation will not work with me. I could kill you in mere seconds if that were my desire."

"Then what do you want, if it isn't my death?"

"Eric, it's been so long since I've done this, tell me, how often does a human child require feeding?"

Eric's fingers tore into a nearby tree trunk, leaving scars in the bark. "Give Asher back. Come fight me."

"Oh no, I think not."

"Listen to me-"

"No, you listen to me, Viking. I have been buried for years thinking of this moment. Just dreaming up ideas to get back at you; that's what you wanted isn't it? You see, Eric, you taught me a valuable lesson on that fateful day: death, death is easy, peaceful even. It's life that can be miserable, torturous, hell. You gave me my own little hell to live in, and now I'm just here to return the favor, darling."

"Russell-"

"I went after that little bitch first. Fairy blood my ass, she's like a cheap tease, all tricks but no show. Figured her death was going to be enough to break you, since you gaze at her like a love-sick puppy, it's pathetic really, Eric, I mean honestly." He paused and the rain fell harder. "Imagine my joyful surprise when this little bundle revealed himself? As if he knew to call to me. I'll tell you, Eric, in my wildest dreams while I was buried, I never pictured a perfect ending like this. I never imagined that I could make you and Sookie suffer so. Goodness, it's enough to bring a tear to the eye."

He sniffled dramatically into the phone. "You know Eric, I must tell you, he truly is a spitting image of you. It's uncanny."

The tree buckled under the weight of Eric's fist and collapsed against another. "Where is my son? WHERE IS MY SON?" His howl echoed back at him.

"See," Russell cooed lovingly. "There it is. Now you know that feeling of hopeless panic. How does it sit with you, right in the pit of your stomach? Makes you angry? Makes you terrified? And there's nothing you can do. Now you know. Now you get paid back for the pain that you caused. Now you know what it is to suffer a loss."

"Where is my son," it was a soft growl now.

"I was just going to kill him," Eric let out a hiss. "But then I realized, I have this void, you see, a void that could be filled with a son."

"He is not your son."

"Don't worry, Eric, I'll teach him my ways; maybe someday you'll meet again as he's driving a stake through your heart. Or, if I get tired of this game, I'll snap his little neck. The suspense is killing me."


	13. Chapter 13

_Hi everyone, I want to apologize for how long this has taken me. I know it was a ridiculously long time, but I had a family emergency and then I moved, and it's been kind of crazy for me. I could barely even think about this. Anyway, I hope to begin posting on a regular schedule again. Enjoy, please let me know what you think, and thanks for sticking with me! -R _

* * *

The spoon clinked loudly against the porcelain as she stirred, but Sookie's hands were steady. She swallowed thickly as she swirled the tea, and her tongue felt dense and unnatural in her mouth.

"Sookie?"

She didn't jump at the voice and she didn't bother to turn around as the door, already ajar, screeched on unoiled hinges when the visitor pushed it. Instead, her eyes remained trained on the open window, watching the rain fall steadily, allowing the smell of the damp earth and the ghost of the wind into the room.

"Come in," she intoned.

"Sookie," his voice was uncertain, wary. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting."

He didn't ask her what she was waiting for; he didn't need to. He too knew that their only real option now was to hold their breath, metaphorically speaking, and await the inevitable move from their child's kidnapper. This was not a battle, not yet. For now it was a game and Russell held all the cards. The point, and Eric was sure of this now, was to toy with them, drive them insane, and this meant that Russell would make a move to draw them into his world.

"I killed Debbie Pelt. She didn't know anything."

Sookie's gaze didn't waver. "The fairies won't be helping us."

"Russell called me." Silence. "Asher is still alive. He's going to keep him alive for a while to torture us, give us the chance to get him back only to snatch him away again."

"That's his plan?"

"Yes."

"What's your plan?"

"As soon as he makes the mistake of giving us a clue as to his whereabouts, I'm getting Asher back."

Sookie added another glob of honey to her tea, grimacing as the hot liquid did nothing to soothe the raw lump in her throat. She swallowed and coughed against the raw ache, idly massaging her neck.

"I will get him back."

"I believe you," her voice sounded strained from all the coughing.

"Where's your brother? The shifter?"

"Home. Or out beating people up or running through the woods as a fox or something. All their fluttering around was driving me crazy."

She coughed again, harshly, and took another swallow of her drink.

"What's wrong?"

She cleared her throat and sighed in exasperation at the persistent twinge of pain. "My throat won't stop hurting. I think I'm getting sick."

"No, you're not." His hands were cold but firm on her shoulders and his voice was gentle, gentler even than it had been when he was human, and she turned into his waiting arms. The tears came then, quiet and docile, but steady. They stood silently like that for a long time. Eric's own tears remained hidden, but his arms were tender and reassuring around the grieving mother.

When Sookie finally pulled back she was surprised to find the rawness in her throat to be healed.

She offered him a watery smile. "You're so in touch with emotions."

His own lips twitched in response. "Even when I was a human, when I lived for the first time, I had little use for emotions. Men in my time were meant to be strong warriors and showcasing feelings displayed weakness. My father especially held this to be true, although my mother attempted to encourage me otherwise," he traced a finger across her brow and down her cheek. "She believed my life should extend beyond the battlefield. Needless to say, as I grew I spent the majority of my time training with the men and ultimately hunting with them. When my father died, it became largely my responsibility to provide for the people, so emotions took a distant backseat in my life. Growing accustomed to that aspect of the vampire life was less of a stretch for me than for most, I must admit.

"When I was human with you, however, it was much different. The lives of people, especially men, are significantly altered. Discussing emotions, even allowing myself to feel them and acknowledge them, was not in my skill set, as I'm sure you've noticed," he dropped his eyes and when he made a move to pull his hand away, her own grasped his fingers and pulled him closer. "But you showed me how to feel, taught me that emotions are not always a weakness, but can serve as a strength. I thought that with my return to Sheriff, I would forget your lessons, grow numb once again to the stirrings, ignore the memories of lying with you. I have found this most difficult, however."

"Maybe in another thousand years or so," she said smiling.

"I don't believe so. I believe my time as a human with you, that _you_, have changed me, for better or worse, forever. That is not to say that I don't sometimes forget what it is to be human, to feel like a human, as you have seen. It is often easier and a first reaction to revert back to my old ways and cover my emotions, although I have realized that they often rear themselves in the form of my anger."

"You don't say."

"I am sorry about before. I apologize for not involving you in the planning, for brushing you aside like a mere human."

"I am a mere human."

"Yes and that makes you weak and a liability." When she pulled away he raised her chin with a single finger. "It also is your greatest strength and provides you with resources supernatural beings will never know."

"I'm sorry too." She led him into the living room and they sat on the couch, his arm naturally resting on her shoulders and her legs in his lap.

"I shouldn't have said those things about this being your fault. I didn't mean it, I was just angry. Angry at Russell, at this situation, at all the darkness that's always around us. But I think what you said is true for me too, all this anger I feel, and I feel it _all the time_, Eric, it's not really anger, it's just a mask for my other feelings. I'm not really angry. I mean, I am, but I think what I really am, what's feeding that rage, is that I'm afraid. I'm so, so fucking afraid of what Russell will do, of what the next monster will do."

"You were right, it is my fault. Russell is my enemy; he wants to hurt me. It was my need for revenge that has enabled him to attack us in this way."

"No, Eric, listen," she shifted so that she they were looking into each other's eyes. "I've been thinking as I've been sitting here and I realized my thinking has been all wrong."

A hint of amusement danced across his face. "You'll have to explain that to a greater extent, my Sookieverse is a bit rusty."

She shook her head and wrung her hands, chopping at the air as if she were grasping for the words. "Before I mean, I mean…listen, I used to think that everything was simple, right? Everything was black and white. An action was either right or wrong. A person was either bad or good. But that's all wrong! The world is so much more complicated than that; people are so much more complex than that."

When Eric blinked at her blankly, she sighed. "Eric, there's a million reasons why we've ended up here tonight. It involved me and you and Asher and Russell and the fairies and Sam and Pam and God knows who else. Within all of us there have been so many decisions, good and bad, made for pure reasons and selfish, and if there were only one little change to that equation, one person hesitating a second or a different choice being made, anything, we would be somewhere else. And maybe that place would be better, but maybe it would be worse, and in the end it is never all determined by one person!"

"Okay…" Eric stroked her upper arms. "So what's the point of your revelation exactly?"

"Just that, I love you."

When Eric opened his mouth she quickly continued, "And I realize now that I've been trying to fit you into this neat little box labeled "good" for years and it's pained me when some aspect of your life doesn't quite adhere to the standards. And I've being doing the same to myself. I've struggled so, so hard to always do the right thing, even if it felt wrong, if it logically seemed right I'd push myself to do it so I could…what? Feel good about myself? Get the approval of other people? Please God? I just," she placed her hands on either side of his face and smiled tenderly at him. "You're a good person and I'm a good person and we do shitty things and we make mistakes but we struggle and we fight and that's what matters. Theirs is no absolute right or wrong in this world and I'm tired of trying to find one.

"And just that, I do, I love you. I love _you_. I love that you stand by your word no matter what the consequences and that you hold all these emotions inside yourself and then they erupt in a mess of anger and sadness and happiness and lust. I love that you make me so angry that I want to hit you, like, physically I want to attempt to overpower a six foot four vampire and beat the ever-loving crap out of him, but at the same time I just want to kiss that spot where your shoulder meets your neck and breathe in your scent because it calms me down. I love that you, of everyone in my life, are the one who never stopped searching, who never gave up on me.

"This is the shittiest, scariest, most awful situation I have ever been in for my entire life, but during it I have realized that I want to be with you. I need to be with you. You and Asher and me, we're a family and we're going to get that back."

When she sat back, Eric's eyes were serious. "What about Russell?"

"What?"

"If there's no good or bad…"

"Oh," she held up a hand. "Russell is the exception to my new outlook. He is absolute bad. We need to find him and kill the hell out of him."

"Okay." Eric leaned his head against the back of the couch and pulled her against him. They sat for a moment. "I don't know what to do," he admitted finally.

"Me neither."

The energy that had entered the room at her speech began to dissipate and Sookie's breathing quickened. "He'll bring the fight to us, right? And then we'll…we'll…"

"We'll kill him and save our son." Eric sat up and turned, grasping both her hands in his own. "In all of my years on this earth, I have only ever truly trusted and felt close to Pam, but you, Sookie, you are my partner. We'll do this together. You are in my veins just as I am in yours and we both live in Asher. Where my heart will fail yours will ring true and when your strength falters mine will push on. Together we will conquer this."

"We're a team," she whispered. "Promise. Promise me that from this moment on we're together through anything, through everything. No secrets, no lies. We'll rely on each other and balance each other."

"I promise."

The ringing of Eric's phone startled them both and he gave her a significant look before answering.

"Come back to Fangtasia. Russell was here, he left some sort of clue," Pam's voice was clipped and angry.

"A clue? What do you mean, what is it?"

"I don't know. It's some kind of cryptic, abstract writing that I'm sure is supposed to mean something since he killed a waitress and left it with her. It's clearly meant for you, Eric. I think you should just come back."

He hung up the phone and rose. "Let's go, we're going back to Fangtasia. Russell was there and he left some sort of hint about Asher. He's treating this like some kind of goddamn game."

Sookie was pale. "I'll stay here."

"No, I can fly us both-"

"I'll just slow you down. You should get there as quickly as possible; the sun will be rising soon. Call me when you get there. Besides, I should stay in case he comes here." At the idea, Eric's jaw clenched. "I'll be fine. He can't come in the house and I'll call Sam and Jason back so I have support."

There was little time to debate; it suddenly felt as though the world was trembling with anticipation. "Okay. I'll call you from Fangtasia. Be careful." He dropped a quick kiss onto her lips. "We'll get Asher back, together."

* * *

When he entered the bar, Pam was sitting at a table staring at the lifeless body of a waitress, knives pinning her to the wall.

"I left everything exactly as I found it," Pam said dryly. "I didn't want you to miss the effect."

Eric stepped closer and looked at the woman. "Her heart is cut out and her hands are tied."

"Russell is always so fucking dramatic."

"I thought you said there was a note?"

"On her stomach. He carved it into her skin. Also, he staked the bartender and the guard."

Eric didn't react to the news of the additional deaths and he didn't flinch as he stepped into the vast puddle of blood beneath the waitress. He was silent as he brushed aside her jacket to view the bloody script.

_"When I compare_  
_What I have lost with what I have gained,_  
_What I have missed with what attained,_  
_Little room do I find for pride._

_I am aware_  
_How many days have been idly spent;_  
_How like an arrow the good intent_  
_Has fallen short or been turned aside._

_But who shall dare_  
_To measure loss and gain in this wise?_  
_Defeat may be victory in disguise;_  
_The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide"_

The still of the bar thrummed in their ears.

"I hate poetry," Pam intoned. "What does it mean, Eric?"

He shook his head. "Russell's gone mad. In the years he's spent buried underground, all he's thought about is Talbot's death and getting back at me. He told me he learned a lesson from my revenge: that death is easy. He said he wants me to feel like he does, to experience that sense of loss, that such devastation opens your eyes to new realities. Asher has given him the opportunity to get back at me in the most elaborate way. He plans to raise him and have him kill me one day."

Pam let out a hiss, but Eric paid her little mind. "Defeat may be victory in disguise… he wants me at my lowest so the tide will turn and I'll be free to experience these new ideas about life and death… his entrapment was a chance to obtain perfect revenge…" Eric's fingers stroked the words, becoming soaked in blood. "The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide," he repeated, his eyes unfocused. "The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide. He wants to break me…The lowest ebb. The lowest ebb…"

Suddenly, his eyes widened and a hand flew to his chest as if to feel the phantom beat. He whirled to face Pam.

"What is it?"

His fingers had left a bloody stain directly over his heart. "It's Sookie. He's going after Sookie. He wants them both."

* * *

Sookie was relieved to note that the rain had let up, although the night was still eerily quiet as it recovered from the onslaught. She left the window and grabbed her house phone, beginning to dial Sam's number.

Suddenly, she froze, her thumb hovering over the three on the dial. The house was silent, but she waited, knowing in her gut that she had heard the unmistakable sound that any mother can identify.

After a few more tense seconds, it came again: the sound of a child crying. As if functioning in slow motion, she blinked down at the phone in her hand with uncertainty. By the third cry she was outside, the house phone still dangling limply from her hand.

"Asher!" She screamed as another wail ripped through the air, seeming to bombard her from all angles. "Asher!"

She ran to the front of the house and let out a shriek at the sight of a swaddled bundle on the ground. "Asher!" Without thought, she scrambled to the blankets, reaching for her son. As her fingers grasped the covering and recognized the feel of solid child beneath the layers, she cried out and pulled the sheet back. Her heart skipped as a child's face emerged, but she had only a few seconds to feel relief and utter joy before she realized that this was not her child, that the smooth skin of the baby was unnaturally pale, before the eyes snapped open and the toddler was at her neck, biting and clawing with razor sharp claws and teeth, smelling of death.

Sookie shrieked and struck at it as it lashed at her, leaving gauges in her neck and chest. Finally, she managed to fling it down and into the dirt. It sprung up and looked at her, and she got her first clear look at the demon. He appeared to be about four years old with sandy blond hair and big brown eyes. He was a vampire.

"Oh my god," she breathed in horror. The baby cackled at her, his mouth twisting in an unnaturally sinister grin, and then he ran off into the woods leaving her shaking and bleeding on her knees. Her house phone and the blankets lay next to her on the dirt and after a moment she became aware of the fact that the fabric was emitting a shrill ring. She dug around until she revealed a phone.

"Hello?"

"Did you see what I left you?" Russell sounded pleasant.

"Yeah, the baby was a nice touch," her voice sounded steady although she did not feel it.

"No, no," he chuckled. "Not Jeffrey. He was just to get your attention. I meant the present I left you. In the blanket."

She held her breath as she dug around, her fingers clasping around a small ring box. Her hands shook as she cracked it open. Inside was a lock of blond hair.

"Asher," she whispered, stroking the soft strands, knowing that although they could belong to anyone, they came from her son. "What have you done to him?"

"Oh he's fine, my dear! He's waiting for you!"

"For me?"

"Yes, a boy needs his mother you know. I've come to realize that. I can't raise this child on my own. I need you to come help you."

"You want me to come meet you?"

"Yes I do. And if you want sweet little Asher to have a different fate than Jeffrey, you'll be a good girl and won't involve that brute of a boyfriend you have."

"Eric will find me."

"Yes I'm sure he will, darling. Although I happen to be old fashioned, I'm sure you, being the whore you are, have exchanged blood with the Viking once more so that he can sense your location. However, you may have noticed that sunrise is mere minutes away and you're going to need to travel, it's quite a long drive that Eric won't be able to make in the daytime."

"Tomorrow night-"

"Yes tomorrow night just as you and me and Asher are having our happy reunion, Eric will awaken and come rushing in to save the day. Thankfully, his flight will be briefer than your drive, but by the time he reaches us, our business will be done."

"You're just going to kill me."

"Probably. But think, if I do that, Eric might arrive in time to save the infant. If you don't come at all, I'll just kill the little cherub, slowly." When she made a tiny choking noise he continued, "His little toes and fingers are so cute, I might just rip them off one at a time. Or maybe I'll keep him intact and give Jeffrey a playmate-"

"Okay, okay! I'll come. Where am I going?"

"3300 North Camellia Road."

"3300 North Camellia Road," she repeated slowly. "What's there?"

"Your fucking son is there and if you want the little bastard to have any chance of survival you'll shut your fucking mouth and just drive!"

She gasped in surprise at his sudden outburst of rage.

"Now," he continued, his voice once again taking on the calm cadence he had perfected. I'm not there with you, but I have those who are and they tell me you have a phone with you on the ground and what appears to be a cellphone in your pocket. I need you to take both of those and throw them into the trees so you won't have any temptation to contact Eric during the drive. Make it nice and obvious so my friends can see what you're doing."

Sookie hesitated and then threw both phones into the woods. She stared longingly as they crashed into the abyss.

"You're doing great. I'm going to make sure to tell Asher his mommy loves him."

Sookie choked on a sob. "Please Russell, please let him go. He's just a baby. He doesn't need to be involved. You can have me and Eric. Just let our son go."

He sighed heavily into the line. "You still don't get it. I'm doing Eric a favor here. This kind of loss I'll be serving to him? It destroys you. No one can survive such pain, but because it's not physical, your body carries on and you become this whole new person. Suddenly, you realize all sorts of things and nothing holds you back. When you're dead inside you can do anything. Eric will move mountains because of your death. It will be beautiful.

"Now, don't get scared, but someone is going to come for the ride with you."

"What?" She scrambled backward as a large man emerged from the shadows. She reached out with her mind and found a jumble of emotions that indicated a Were, one who didn't like her very much.

"It's not that I don't trust you," Russell continued. "Well, actually it is that I don't trust you. I just have this feeling that you'd somehow manage to get word to Eric about where you're headed so he could get a head start or send someone to intercept us. And honestly, Sookie, this meeting is going to be much too epic for that to happen. So, Darryl will ride with you and as long as you behave, he won't eat your face off. Fair deal, no?"

She rose and began walking toward her car. "Yes."

"Excellent. Now, Darryl is new help, so unfortunately he doesn't know the way here. Luckily for you, however, he comes baring that wonderful invention of GPS so you two should be able to make it here by sundown. If you're late, just remember who will pay."

Sookie sat in the driver's seat and closed the door firmly. "Yes," she said again.

"Excellent. You remember the address?" At the sound of her consent, he went on, "I just want you to know, Sookie, I'm so glad we're going through this together. It's going to be a magical experience and I wouldn't want it to be anyone else but you."

She turned on the engine and blinked as Darryl lowered himself into the passenger seat. She shifted the car into drive and pulled onto the street, a numbness settling at the bottom of her stomach. She glanced in her rearview mirror and watched her house disappear.

"Well," Russell sounded gleeful with excitement. "Everything's settled then. Eric has mere minutes to track you tonight and by the time he figures out my message and devises a plan he will be hours behind. I'll see you at sunset, darling. It will be a night you will never forget."

* * *

The wind was whipping Eric's hair around his eyes as he flew but it didn't matter, he knew the route by heart. He could feel the buzz of their connection intensifying as he drew nearer to Sookie's house. The sky was beginning to turn pink and he lowered his head and willed himself faster.

"Sookie," he gritted out. "Sookie I'm coming."


	14. Chapter 14

If I could talk to you now, tell you anything, it would be this: I love you. I think of you from the moment I awake till the seconds just before sleep. You even eclipse my dreams. When we lay together I feel safe and whole and adored. I've never had that before. I've never felt like it was okay to be myself, that someone else would accept me for all my faults and eccentricities. But you see me, beyond the façade, through the guard, and you love me. It's difficult to explain, but in doing this, you made it possible for me to love myself. All my life I've heard every flaw screamed at me from all angles, every mirror has highlighted each bump and bulge and imperfection. I learned to avert my eyes. I learned to ignore it. I learned to pretend to ignore it. Thank you for changing my life. For making it okay to cry and to laugh and to snort and to hiccup. Thank you for holding my hand, for tracing maps on my skin, for trusting me with secrets.

If I could take one thing with me it would be this: the way you invade my senses. The smell of you that lingers on my skin long after you've gone, so that I can breathe deep and know how profoundly you are engrained. The taste of your mouth, demanding and giving. As I run my fingers over my lips I feel you. I remember the sun and the heat and the moon and the chill, like fire and ice you consume me. Two can become one and I can lose myself and find myself all in one rush, and you showed me that.

If I could make you understand anything it would be this: I'm sorry. I've said it a thousand times and heard your own likeminded pleas. I am so flawed and you are imperfect and the jagged pieces of our souls have found a way to fit perfectly. I wish I never hurt you. I know I put that flicker behind your eyes there. I'm sorry I broke your trust. I'm sorry I did not trust you. But you know the truth, so I must also admit that I'm sorry I would do it all again. I would fall in love with you and try to get you to do the same. I would introduce him to a world full of pain and lies. I would realize how much I need you and force you to see how much you care for me. I would make the world a better place, if only for a little while, by allowing him to grace it with his smile.

But most of all, I'm sorry for this: I'm sorry for dying. I'm sorry for giving up, but it has become too much. I want to scream, to beg, but I do not because I know you would be strong. I know you will be mad. I know you will not understand. You will win in the end, this I know, this I've always known. We've taught each other so much, and my final lesson is the one you've dreaded the most: I am meant to die.

The Other's hands are on my throat and I close my eyes because I want your face to be the last I see, even if it's only a memory. He whispers to me, cruel and harsh, but I cannot hear his words. All I can hear is the echo of a baby's cries, so loud, so desperate. And I let go.

* * *

The man hadn't said anything since the drive had begun. Sookie picked at the skin around her thumbnail as she squinted into the sun.

"It's setting," she said mildly. The wind through her cracked window whipped in and out of the vehicle, stealing away her words and giving her the only whistle of a response she received. "We must be getting close," she continued. "Russell said we'd be there by sundown, and it's almost time."

She reached out with her mind to the Were's thoughts and found a mass of anger and blood lust. If she got out of line, he was allowed to eat her, and he had heard her blood tasted very, very good. Sookie swallowed hard and flexed her fingers on the steering wheel. She sent out a rush of emotions to Eric, the hundredth time that day. '_Please come_,' she begged him, and, after a second glance at the Were's head, '_bring back up._' She pictured Eric sleeping the day away, willing the minutes by so he could spring back to life and find her. Or maybe he was sitting up, blood dripping from his nose and ear as he agonized about the limitations of the sun. Did he feel how far away she was?

She wished she had gone with him to Fangtasia. She wished he had killed Russell when he'd had the chance.

"Hindsight," she said aloud, but the man did not look at her. He was focused on an object in the distance, a small dot on the horizon, slowly coming into view. Sookie's pulse quickened as they drew nearer. It was a cement building standing alone in a field. What few windows it had were thickly boarded up and spray painted with the word 'condemned.'

She put the car in park and stepped outside as the sun began its final decent. "I'm here, Asher."

* * *

It was dark inside, so dark that Sookie could not see her hand in front of her face, even after long seconds of waving it directly in her eyes. She was tempted to use her fairy powers and randomly blast, if only to provide herself some light, but she still had trouble controlling the surge and she was afraid to injure Asher or anger Russell.

The Were had stayed outside by the door, guarding it she guessed, and she wondered if she should go ask him what she was supposed to do now. The bloodlust she could still sense buzzing in his head, however, compelled her to wait in silence for a few minutes. She reached out with her mind and found no evidence of anyone else in the building.

"Hell-oo," she cooed into the blackness, feeling foolish. She took a few cautious steps. "Hello?"

Suddenly, the fixture switched on above her head, filling the large room with such brilliant florescence that she was blinded. Because of this, she sensed rather than saw Russell's entrance into the building. As her eyes blinked back tears, she turned in the direction of the blank space that was his mind.

"Russell."

"Amazing!" His voice crowed from in front of her, and as her eyes adjusted she was able to make out the edge of his body, then his gleeful expression and the child in his arms. "I can't believe it's finally happening! That we're here together-all three of us!"

Asher was dirty and his face was drawn. His eyes were splotched red from crying, but he looked uninjured. At the sight of his mother, he burst into fresh tears and reached out a hand.

Sookie's heart was pounding and she knew that Russell could probably hear every beat, but she forced her exterior to appear calm. She ached desperately for the vampire to release his hold on the baby, afraid that if she attacked him, Asher would get caught in the fray.

"Give me my son."

"He's my son!" Russell's eyes held a hint of hysteria and Sookie realized his face was smudged in dirt, his normally sophisticated clothes askew and stained. Asher too was covered in a thin layer of mud, his exposed skin scraped and shadowed by the film of dust. They looked like they had been living outside for days.

"Russell…"

"No!" Russell's scream echoed throughout the room as he moved with vampire speed to stand on a steel platform above her head. Asher's cries had quieted now to inconsistent hiccups and he looked at her with confused and pleading eyes.

"The earth goes round and round and here's what happens: everything dies. But what doesn't die? Me. I don't fucking die. I live and live and live. And I'm strong and that's why I live and I've lived longer than anyone and I deserve a prize!" Although Russell glared at her, his rambling seemed to be directed more at himself.

"And I had my prize. I had it. Happy, happy, happy. But more, I always wanted more," he let out a wail. "Lived so long, I want it all. And he, he," his voice darkened in rage. "He took my happiness. Snatched it right from under me. Not brave enough to face me, he went after a gentle heart." He shook Asher with each word. "Fucking, Eric!"

"Stop!" She scrambled up the steps with her arms outreached. "You're hurting him!"

Russell held his hand out over the edge of the platform, Asher gripped tightly in his fingers. Suspended twenty feet in the air, the baby hung oddly still and Sookie's breath caught. Russell met her eyes.

"The Viking thought he knew of loss and sorrow. The blow he dealt me was not proportionate to the original strike. He forgot his place. He needs to learn a lesson. You see, I took his father's life, so I can't expect him to understand these ways. All men need a man to teach them. Now I must be his father. I must show him what true loss is. He'll learn. He'll see that the hurts of the past pale in comparison to what I will do. He'll learn that although he may be eternal, little else is."

"Please don't do this," tears were pouring now, electricity sparking between her fingers. A slight twitch of Russell's hand and Asher would fall. "Take me, please take me. I can be the lesson!"

Russell smiled at her. There was blood on his teeth.

"Here's what you're going to do, darling." He pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket. "Remember these? I grew nice and comfortable with them when I was buried." Smoke wormed up form where the silver scorched his skin. He gazed at it indifferently. "Put your arms behind your back and walk to me. Go slowly, now, wouldn't want me to feel a fright and drop the cherub."

Sookie's mind raced. With her hands bound behind her back she'd be no use to Asher, but if she didn't do as Russell asked he might kill the boy immediately.

"Fascinating," Russell drawled. "I can almost physically see the ungreased wheels of your mind turning ever so slowly. You're too stupid to create a plan that would beat me, my dear, so I suggest you comply. Now."

She sighed and walked toward him with wrists clasped, grimacing as the cool steel clamped down on her. She turned toward the vampire.

"Please let Asher go."

Russell grinned. "Your wish." He placed Asher at the edge of the platform, near the wide-set bars that allowed ample room through which the toddler could fall. Panic pooled in her chest.

"Asher come away from there-" Suddenly she was choking on blood, Russell's backhand coming so quickly that she hadn't seen or felt it.

"Do not speak to my son," he hissed and the second blow sent her stumbling back, down the metal stairs, hands behind her back with only her head to absorb the fall. When her body stilled at the foot of the staircase, her mind wavered on the precipice of unconscious, but she clenched her teeth and held on for dear life. She had to stay awake, for Asher's sake.

When Russell lifted her off the ground, she could barely see for the blood gushing down her face. The king lovingly brushed it away from her eyes, licking his fingers with a shudder.

"Do you think Asher tastes this good? I've refrained from sampling him because his little body holds so little blood and babies are so naturally sweet I've always had trouble stopping myself before they're withered to a wrinkled pile of skin, but I just may have to give him a try…"

Sookie screamed and launched her body at the vampire, but he simply laughed and struck her again. She landed on her back and attempted immediately to roll over so her hands could fire at him, but he was above her in an instant, his booted foot planted on her chest.

"You know, as much fun as this is, I think we're going to have to draw to a close soon. Eric will be here within an hour or two and I have to arrange you just right, you see. Your body's position must convey to him all that he has loved and lost." He squinted down at her. "I wonder if I should leave your clothes on or off."

Her struggles were no match for his power and she choked against the blood bubbling in her throat. He crouched over her, face fascinated.

"There it is, isn't it? That air that you so desperately need. You thirst for it the way we hunger for your blood." His eyes caressed her skin intimately. "Such a pity the windpipe is so delicate an instrument."

When his hands closed around her throat, she wanted to cry out but forced herself to remain silent. He pulled her close and put his lips against her cheek.

"Asher's going to watch his mommy die here tonight. I wonder what that will do to him," he licked the shell of her ear. "I wonder what years with me will do to him."

Despite her greatest efforts, a whimper escaped her lips. Dots were spotting her eyes as her brain screamed for air. Asher was wailing above them, looking down at them, so close, so very close to the edge. Russell was still whispering, his eyes large and excited, but she couldn't hear him. All she could hear were the cries of her son. She realized in that moment that she was going to die. She hoped she had used up enough time. Her eyes closed so that the last thing she would see wouldn't be Russell. Asher's cries were getting louder. She thought then of Eric, sent him one last surge of love and apology. A brief review of her life flashed through her mind and she found herself pleased, but so very, very not ready to go. She pictured Eric's face, saw him holding their son and laughing. This was her legacy. She was meant to die so that they would live. A peace settled in her chest and she could feel her body beginning to relax. Russell's fangs grazed her throat. The moment had come.

"Sookie!"

Suddenly, she was choking on air, greedily sucking it in even as it burned and stabbed her on its way down. Russell's face was still above her, his eyes full of shock and disbelief. He was staring at Eric in the doorway, the Viking's face fierce and determined.

"Impossible. He couldn't make the trip here this quickly. He must have known…you must have…" he looked down at her in his arms. "I told you not to tell him."

Despite her exhaustion, Sookie felt a smile twist her features.

"I've always had trouble following directions," she rasped.


	15. Chapter 15

"Get down!" Somehow in the middle of the chaos, Eric's voice managed to remain calm, and Sookie allowed her body to drop backwards to the floor, shutting her eyes against the slam of her head on the concrete.

Eric had the element of surprise on his side, and that's probably why he got the chance to raise the gun in the first place, but, as she blinked from the ground, it shattered spectacularly along with the Eric's fingers. Russell's crushing grip tightened as he stared down at the pieces of the weapon.

"Wooden bullets? This isn't how it's supposed to happen!"

Eric's teeth were gritted as he reached his free arm around to clutch Russell's throat. Sookie watched while a delicate-looking bone pierced through the skin of his hand under the older vampire's hold. A drop of blood mesmerized her, tracing an intricate pattern on Eric's pale flesh before dripping languidly onto the ground.

Russell laughed. "Why do you even try? You cannot win."

"I have to."

A whimper from above suddenly cleared Sookie's cloudy mind, and she clumsily rose and raced up the stairs to Asher. His blond head craned over the side of the platform to watch the scene below, his tiny fingers gripping the grated metal as if his tenuous hold might save him from his precarious position.

"Asher," Sookie hissed and he looked at her, eyes so wide and unblinking that tears could not form. "Come to Mommy!"

He tottled over to her and she turned and wiggled her restricted fingers so that he latched onto them and let her begin leading him down the stairs. As they slowly progressed, Eric and Russell were moving at speeds the human eye could not detect. Russell threw Eric across the room and when the blond vampire's back crashed into the wall, he paused long enough to reveal a face covered in blood. Russell sneered at him, seemingly untouched.

"You just signed your son's death warrant, Viking. You get to watch me drain them both now."

With a cry of fury, Eric flung himself back into the fray. Sookie and Asher were nearing the bottom of the stairs and Sookie eyed the door. Three more steps and they were on solid ground. Then perhaps ten more shuffled paces to the door.

"Gotcha!"

Sookie shrieked and Asher crashed into her suddenly frozen body, yelping in panic at the sudden appearance of the vampire in front of them. Sookie searched frantically for Eric, breathing a momentary sigh of relief when she saw him lying on the ground, injured but still gloriously undead.

"Tell me," Russell took a step up and Sookie pushed Asher back and up in a frenzy, backtracking their previous progress. "How did you get word to Eric? I had someone watching you at all times."

Sookie kept her eyes trained on Russell even as she remained conscious of shoving her son up the stairs and away from the edge. Asher peaked out from behind her and Russell's eyes lit up. She swallowed. "The phone," she said and the vampire looked back up at her. "I had the phone in my hand when I heard the baby start to cry. I called Eric before I ran outside. He listened to our whole conversation. He, he couldn't hear your end because you were on the phone with me, but I repeated the important parts aloud before you made me toss the phones."

Russell clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Clever girl! And to think, I always viewed you as a fucking idiot." He tilted his head and studied her as if seeing her for the first time. "You're still going to die though."

They had reached the top platform once again. Sookie held onto Asher's fingers so tightly she must have been hurting him, but he made not a single sound. She cast a fleeting glance at the drop below them and wondered if Eric would have the energy and strength to catch them if she and Asher jumped. She wondered if an unbroken fall might be a better death than the one Russell had in mind for mother and son.

"Who should go first?" Russell remained a foot away from them. "I wanted this to be perfect and you've ruined it!" His fingers dug into the hair at his scalp. "Baby first," he said firmly. "That way you both get to watch him die. Then you."

Decision made, he advanced, but the door below flew open with a startling bang that caused him to freeze.

"Russell." If Eric's voice had been calm, Pam's was downright nonchalant.

"Pamela. How nice of you to join us."

"Mm," she dabbed at her lips. "Had to take care of that filthy animal outside. Really, Russell, the company you keep is questionable."

Eric stood then, whatever wound that had plagued him seemingly healed, although he looked paler than usual.

"You sacrifice yourself for a human child?"

"That's my little brother."

Russell came to them and the crunch of flesh against flesh and the sickeningly sweet aroma of blood filled the warehouse. Together, Eric and Pam slowed Russell down, but it was clear they were outmatched as they were tossed around like children.

An overwhelming sense of defeat swelled in Sookie's throat, but she forced herself to keep moving. Asher's entire existence was against the odds. That had to mean something. She and Asher stepped off the last stair just as Russell, in one fluid movement ripped Eric's shirt, secured it around his hand, grabbed a chain off a shelf and wrapped it around Pam's beautiful face. The screech that ripped from Pam's lips echoed as though it had come from the depths of her soul. She clawed at the silver as smoke billowed from her skin. Collapsing, she rolled on the ground as if she were in flames, but the silver seemed to melt into her flesh.

Eric emerged from a demolished crate, into which he had been thrown, yielding a large stake. His attempted stab was easily averted with a side-step from the older vampire. A closely followed back-hand sent Eric flying into the base of the metal staircase, snapping the steel bars of the foundation. With a thunderous wail of metal-on-metal, the platform folded in on itself, crashing down and covering Eric until he could no longer be seen.

Although she knew it futile, Sookie and Asher were running toward the door, Sookie practically dragging the toddler by his fingertips. Without even bothering to move, Russell threw a large piece of scrap metal at the pair. It clipped Sookie in the temple and she fell, hard, losing her grip on Asher in the process.

She landed on her side and coughed. The impact had left a gash in her forehead that sent more blood gushing down her face. She struggled to get up, to look for Asher, but found that she could not; the blood loss was beginning to take its toll. In a panicked search, her eyes rolled in her head, finding no movement or sign of Russell. She searched with her brain, but all she could locate were the empty spaces of the two friendly vamps and the nearby buzzing of her son. All was quiet, except for the hushed sizzle of Pam's still burning flesh. She felt cold, she realized, and with a pang of horror she wondered if she were already dead, but then she felt the presence of a warm body against her own and recognized the unmistakable sensation of her son snuggling against her.

"Asher," she rolled over to look at him. "Come on, we have to go-" She looked back to the door and gasped as her vision was suddenly filled with Russell.

"Hello, my dears." He squatted over her and ran a finger over her face, sticking the slick digit into his mouth with unconcealed delight. "I'm going to enjoy this. Are you ready?"

Sookie was flat on her back, her restrained hands crushed beneath her. Russell sat firmly on her pelvis and she kicked wildly against him, legs wrapping around his hips and shoulders in a dark semblance of a lover's embrace.

"No," she gasped. "No."

Asher's face was tucked against Sookie's side, her shirt shielding his eyes from the demonic scene above them. She said a silent prayer of thanks that Russell's face would not be the last thing her baby would ever see. The vampire grasped each of their throats in a hand, his touch tender.

"This is what love does." A red tear tumbled down his cheek.

Eric's head shot up across the room and he fought against the debris covering him, rose, stumbled, and collapsed on one knee, realizing he was too far to stop the snap.

"Sookie! Asher!" A desperate howl keened from deep within him. The naked sorrow reverberated around them.

Russell froze, just for a moment, and looked back to catch a glimpse of the beauty. His shifted weight and loosened hold vibrated Sookie's flesh. Using all of her strength, all of her love for the baby beside her, she flipped onto her stomach. Russell turned, reactions slowed by his perverse fascination, and his face absorbed the full blow of the blast from her fairy hands.

The vampire sailed through the air and landed with a crash near Eric. As if he had anticipated her maneuver, and before Sookie's mind could even register what was happening, Eric was above Russell, stake in hand, and the unmistakably wet squelch of wood penetrating the heart resounded.

Russell sat up and looked at his chest, as if disbelieving what he saw. He touched the wound and then latched onto Eric's shirt with a bloody hand. Eyes full of hate, he made to say something, but then his eyes drifted slightly to the left and up into the distance, beyond Eric's form, and a tiny smile graced his features.

"Talbot?"

At the name, Russell's body erupted in a mass of blood and entrails, coating Eric's body in a thick sheen of slime.

When Eric's eyes opened, they sought Sookie's fervently, and they stared at each other for a moment. Then, Eric rose and strode over to Pam's limp body, using the tattered remains of his shirt to peel the silver from her face.

Sookie lay back against the floor while Eric tended to Pam's needs. Soon a sucking noise emerged and although Sookie was unsure whether Eric was feeding Pam his own blood or Russell's or if he had somehow stored some Trueblood somewhere, she didn't bother to look. Now that the adrenaline of the battle was beginning to wear off, she became aware of her pain and the sensation of being lightheaded. She began to shake and against her, Asher was crying.

She flittered in and out of consciousness, suddenly snapping to alertness in a panic.

"I'm here, we're all okay" Eric's arms surrounded her, releasing her hands with an easy flick, and pulling her and Asher against him. She put a shaky arm around him, welcoming the reassurance of his familiar chest, and then slung her other arm over Asher, her fingers entwining with those of Eric's on the baby's back.

The three formed a bloody, crying circle. There were no words or kisses or concrete thoughts, just gentle rocking and sobbing. They stayed that way for a long time.


	16. Chapter 16

_So, this is the end of this story. I want to thank everyone that has stuck with me through Only Human and Where We Belong, especially those who have reviewed and messaged me. Your kind words have honestly made this possible; Without them I would have given up long ago._

_ I think I'll try to write another story. I'm not sure what it will be about or if it will be in the Trueblood realm, but that probably won't be until the early fall, so please watch out for that! If you have any suggestions or requests please let me know. As always, I look forward to hearing what you think! Thanks again, R._

* * *

Sookie's skin was on fire. She panted and attempted to shy away from the heat, but it clung to her like a shadow.

"Ahh," she breathed in desperation.

"Ahh," Asher echoed.

She turned to him and grinned. "Are you making fun of your mother?" He giggled when her fingers danced across his ribs. "I'm not used to this southern heat anymore, even at this time of year." She shielded her eyes against the sunshine and took in the yard around them, green and perfectly manicured, except for the spots where she and Asher were digging.

"You know I'm not sure your father is going to appreciate us ruining his grass to plant this garden." The toddler gurgled noncommittally and ran a few feet away, relishing the sensation of the blades on his bare feet. "You don't care, huh? Well neither do I. He'll learn to love irises."

She bent over and stuck her spade in the dirt, enjoying the natural pull and strain on her back from the manual labor, so different from the ache of her wounds from Russell, which had taken weeks to fully heal.

When a howl of pain sounded, she whirled up and over to Asher, exhibiting the effects of all the vampire blood she had ingested in recent days.

"What is it?"

Asher held out his arm, displaying the pink irritation of a bee sting.

"Oh, baby." She poured a bit of water on it from her bottle and smoothed the stinger away.

Asher's lip trembled and two, fat tears spilled down his cheeks. Sookie's heart broke. She dropped a kiss on the injury.

"Are you okay," she whispered.

"Yeah," Asher said, swiping at his cheeks, smearing them with dirt. "I okay."

He ambled off, back into the grass, content and unafraid. Sookie watched him, a mixture of curiosity and pride thrumming in her veins. In the weeks since his capture and the subsequent bloodbath that followed, Sookie had carefully monitored Asher's behavior. She had purchased books about childhood trauma and posttraumatic stress, and she had lain awake at night worrying that a few days in a person's life could alter them irreparably.

Asher, however, had seemingly moved on much faster than she. For about a day he had followed her and Eric around, crying when they left his sight. Soon, however, he had resumed his previous temperament, laughing and playing as if nothing had ever happened, as if he hadn't been kidnapped and almost murdered by a lunatic vampire. As if he hadn't watched his mother and father beaten almost to death. Sookie shuddered at the memories. Asher shouted gleefully at a butterfly and pointed so that she could see. She waved and laughed. This was Eric's gift to Asher, she knew. This bravery and strength of character in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. She saw more and more of his father in him every day and it pleased her to no end because, as she told Eric, much to his chagrin and joy, Eric was a good man.

"Hello, cousin."

Sookie yelped and spun to face the fairy. "Don't do that! You almost scared me to death!"

The radiant creature ignored her, its gaze completely absorbed by the toddler in the distance. "He grows quickly."

Sookie followed the fairy's train of vision and her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to ensure the safety of you and the child."

"That's funny, because you didn't give a rat's ass about us when we needed you."

"You place yourself and all of our kind in danger with your choices, cousin, but we are willing to give you another chance to save yourself."

"Save myself?"

"Come with us. Both of you. Come stay with us and we will provide for you. We will protect you. You will live a full, happy life as you should."

"We're happy where we are."

The woman shook her head sternly, even her curls bouncing angrily. "You do not understand the consequences of your actions. You live in this drudgery like mere humans-"

"We are humans."

"No," her lips were pursed. "You are part fae. The blood runs strong in the boy. He has…he has great power. He will fulfill the prophesy."

"What prophesy?"

"Come with us and we will tell you. We will teach you all you need to know."

"Tell me now."

"I cannot. You must join us. Come where you belong."

"We belong here," Sookie's voice was firm. "We belong with Eric. The three of us are a family."

"We are your family-"

"No. Eric is our family. We stay with him."

"The vampire," the fairy sneered. "The one who nearly got you both killed?"

"The one who saved us," Sookie corrected.

"You saved yourself."

Sookie sighed and ran a hand through her tangled hair. "We worked together, like families do. At least he came. He helped me. You left us to die. If Asher is so important, how could you do that?"

"It is forbidden to walk with vampires. And we weren't sure, we couldn't be sure that Asher was the one…"

"But now you know?"

"Yes. He is the One."

"Tell me what the prophesy says. I deserve to know."

"Come with us and all the answers to your questions will be given."

Sookie was silent for a moment, considering. "No."

"No?"

"No. And fuck you. We'll find out for ourselves."

"Think of the life Asher could have, of the life he deserves!"

"I am. You need to leave, now."

"Cousin…" The fairy grabbed Sookie's arm, the touch sending a tiny shock through the telepath's skin.

"Leave!"

Suddenly, the whoops of laughter that had been filling the yard vanished. Both women looked over at the source of the sudden, overwhelming silence. Asher had been rolling in the grass, amusing himself by throwing a ball and chasing after it, but now he stood, silent. He was staring at the fairy, his eyes focused and angry in a way Sookie had never seen. His eyebrows were knitted together, lips pursed. The fairy released her hold on Sookie and backed away, her gaze never wavering from Asher's. Sookie's glanced, dumbstruck, between the two.

"You have made your choice," the fairy spat, and Sookie was uncertain whether she was addressing her or the baby. "You choose humanity and a vampire over where the two of you are meant to be. You will regret this."

With a pop, the fairy vanished, leaving Sookie, mouth agape, and Asher, standing stoically, eyes so icy blue she half expected flames to lick out of the orbs. Looking at her baby, at the owner of the toes she kissed and the neck she snuggled, Sookie dropped to her knees.

"Asher?" She wished that she could read his mind better, that it wasn't just emotions and single words. Asher walked to her slowly. Sookie took in every step, imagining that this perfect being in front of her, this baby, this _person_, with five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, and eyelashes and eyebrows and the perfect bow of a mouth, was created by her cells joining Eric's.

Asher stood in front of her and placed a tiny hand on either side of her face. They felt warm and safe and familiar.

"Asher," she said again. He leaned forward slowly, placed his lips on her neck and let out a breath of air that produced a rude noise. Giggling, he pulled back and offered her an open smile, an obnoxious laugh. Sookie laughed back and swung him into the air, his body fitting against hers so naturally that she realized she had been incomplete without him.

* * *

Eric's couch was wide, so wide in fact that it fit all three of them with room to spare. When she commented on this, he simply smirked and reminded her that it was her couch too, now. There was a TV in the room, but it remained off as their talks adequately amused them. Asher slid off the furniture and played quietly on the rug in front of them. A low fire warmed the three from the surprisingly chilly night, and when Eric's hand joined hers, Sookie sighed in what can only be described as complete peace.

The conversation lulled for a moment and she thought about the new bodyguards that trailed after her and Asher during the day. She was surprised it didn't upset her more, but really they stayed at a reasonable distance and usually she forgot they were there. And she felt safe here, living in Eric's house. She was able to see her old friends and family and not fear for Asher's life. Eric still discussed the need for added security, for political moves on his part, but for now he and Pam brainstormed. Sookie didn't mind. They were all still figuring out this family thing, but for some reason, she wasn't worried.

Sookie sighed again in contentment and sank deeper against the cushions and Eric's chest. Every muscle in her body felt relaxed. She closed her eyes. '_Now_,' she thought. '_If only I could reach that bottle of water across the room without getting up_.'

At the touch of cool dampness against her skin, her eyes opened. Asher blinked back at her. In his hand, was the water bottle. '_Thank you,'_ she thought, and he smiled and resumed playing.

She took a sip and let the refreshing liquid soothe her dry throat. Eric kissed the top of her head, absently.

"Everything okay," he asked.

She watched Asher play with his blocks, alternating between colors, lining them in a thick row and then stacking them on top, building a foundation so strong that the tower never wavered. She looked down at their intertwined hands, his large and pale and hers small and tanned.

"Yeah," she said, and smiled. "Everything's good."


End file.
